Rememberence
by Alu In Chains
Summary: What would you do if your best friend ditched you? What would you do if you find that she just forgot? What would happen if the cartoon actually came first? How would you get her to remember?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Lol, well, here's my second Beetlejuice fic so far. I was bored and skimmed through most of the stories that have ever been submitted by now, and got interested in the ones that connected the cartoon to the movie. Just, one thing that kinda got me. The Movie usually came first, just like the order in which they came out originally. Being bored, I decided to just... switch it around a bit. Now the Cartoon comes first, so somethin's gonna happen, I guess...

Also, For now, while it's the cartoon, it WILL have somewhat of bad language. But once it gets more towards the movie the bad mouthing might grow a little, maybe even _more_ will happen, so when it gets there I will change the rating.

But, that might happen if I get enough reviews. :) So I hope you like this!

Enjoy!!

P.S. I do not own Beetlejuice. That should be obvious...

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Chapter 1

**Grounded**

"Miss Deetz!"

"Wha?! Huh?!" Lydia sat up in her chair, alerted that she was no longer in whatever dream world she was in before being called upon. She tensed for a moment, realizing that she was still in class, and slumped in her chair with a small grimace. This was going to become a call to her parents from school, yes. She could see it there on Ms. Shannon's face that her teacher wasn't necessarily happy with her at the moment.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Miss Deetz? That is the fourth time this week that you have been found napping during class. Is there a problem at home causing you to lose sleep?"

"No, Ms. Shannon…"

"Then what possible explanation can you find to tell me why you are not getting any sleep at night?"

"None, Ms. Shannon…"

"I shall speak with you about this, after class, Miss Deetz. And hopefully this will be the only time I have to hold you back after your current hour."

"Yes, Ms. Shannon," Lydia sighed and rested her head on the heal of her palm, tapping the eraser of her pencil impatiently on the desk. How was she to be able to explain to anyone that she was out in the realm of the dead the night before? How would she be able to simply explain to them that her best friend wasn't Bertha nor Prudence, but simply not of this world? A dead man. Yes, that's her best friend. He was a spirit of the sort, a poltergeist if you will. One with powers no other ghost, spirit, nor creature could ever comprehend, and abilities that he uses to pull small jokes as pranks. And Lydia thought to herself, why was he her best friend?

He makes her laugh. He's very different and… and he's just so understanding when it came to her. Lydia had friends other than him, yes, but she always preferred spending a day with him in the Neitherworld than at the mall with other friends. Why? Because her other friends didn't know. She never said 'Deadly Vu' or any other silly pun that she can think of around them. Lydia only stated funny jokes like those around him. He was her hero. He was there for her like no one else was, and she was so much more to him than a mortal girl with dark interests. She was his for the taking, always has been, and always will be.

He was also hers, in a small way. He did what she told him to do, but she never crossed the line. He was…. Beetlejuice. Lydia smiled, looking up at the board to find notes she was apparently supposed to write down some time ago, but never did get around to it. Her imagination was too demanding, and she satisfied the hungry thoughts with her own, day dreaming some will call it.

She was bored with school, and Lydia longed for another round in the Neitherworld. She'll get that eventually, now that she knows there's life after death, she's never afraid to live her life to the fullest. She guessed she'd have to thank her mother for the ability to smile again. Her real mother. Not step mother. Her mother that brought her to this world. The one who had also died… and as much as Lydia has always wanted to ask Beetlejuice for the chance to see her again, she thought it best to keep her mouth shut.

Beetlejuice has done enough for her. He's saved her life several times, and gave her something to look forward to. He gave her the rest of his afterlife, so that he may spend time with her day by day. He gave her permission to do things that no other thirteen-year-old girl may do, and Lydia figured that asking to see her mother would just be too much.

Why was her mother to thank for all of this? Simple. Before she died, several years before Lydia even _had_ interests towards dark things, she gave her a book. Yes, a poor Birthday gift, no? To Lydia, it was.

"_Lydia, this book is something completely different! It's not boring at all and I'm sorry that I couldn't find you anything like a fairy tale but you know how the times are for us right now."_

"_Well where in the world did you find it?! It's old and… dusty and…_icky_!"_

"_I'm sorry, darling, but the woman who gave me the book just rushed it into my hands. I got it for free, you can say. She just rushed it like she was scared of it. I'm sorry I couldn't afford anything big, but you're only six. Ten more years and you'll even have your own car, I promise!" she smiled down at her small daughter. Lydia took the book with a mad little pout on her face._

A book of the dead. That's what it was. A simple little book for calling names. It read several instructions and the last few pages were a list of first, and last names of the many ghosts who were able to be called upon.

After her mother died Lydia took a…. _dark_ liking to the world. She looked at the book, obviously it was just some silly activity for young Wiccans to enjoy themselves reading. Maybe not Wiccans, but just anyone in general who took a liking to spirits and the afterlife. And while flipping through the pages, debating on whether Lydia should keep the book since it was one of the last few gifts from her mother, she decided, just to try it. To humor herself, to humor her mother's spirit, to see if it actually worked at all.

Anyone could have a curiosity to try these things out. Knowing that it was just something for fun, or something to pass the time, Lydia decided that, she did actually take a liking to dark things. Ghosts and spirits, mostly. She wanted to know whether or not there was life after death and so she read the book. The rules, how to call upon them, such of that nature.

When reading the instructions was finally out of the way, Lydia skimmed the list of First names. Confusing, very, because the list were just words, basically. Not really names at all.

It seemed that if you mixed the first name with the last name, and call the word you just mixed together three times, you'll end up with a spirit who's personality is matched with yours. There were many words in the first list, and Lydia skimmed it over a few times. Then she found Beetle, a description behind each name told the reader what it meant, who they were like. The description she found most interesting; Someone playful, yet disgusting.

Disgusting, yes, a throw off, but playful sounded interesting. She didn't want a lazy ghost to call, no matter if it was all true or not. So she went with that. With her chosen first name, Lydia skimmed the Last names. Juice; Dark, funny, rather mean, hard to get along with, but can be a good friend. A good friend… Lydia needed a friend, a good one in general. So that was decided. Beetle, and Juice.

Lydia thought, it would be okay. Beetlejuice, she came up with by putting the two words together. The book's instructions were so…. _fake_ sounding to her, but none the less, she wanted to find out. And to her surprise, it wasn't.

Only five years without her real mother, and four with her step were enough to make her want to die. But thanks to her Mother's open mindedness in Birthday gifts for her six-year-old daughter, Lydia was now actually best friends with someone who could never leave her.

* * *

The final bell for the end of class that day rang, bringing Lydia back down to earth and she sat up, finding that she had fallen asleep, yet again. _Ugh, I need to start going to bed early…_ she thought to herself.

"I'm glad you remembered to stay after class, Miss Deetz," came the stuck up voice of Ms. Shannon as Lydia drowsily turned her head in her direction. "Yes, Ms. Shannon," she murmured obediently. Lydia was too tired to argue with her teacher, not to mention that she'd be grounded to no extent. Over the years, her parents have grown strict over what she's been doing. And this isn't the first time that she has had the teacher call home for her napping in class. Lydia Deetz, use to be a good student, but her teenage hormones made the subject turn otherwise.

Everyone who has been responsible for her actions suspect that she has indeed snuck out of the house. And she has… just not out of the house. Out of her world, to be more exact. But she'd never admit it. She couldn't. Lydia would never do that, because she knew it would result into Delia flipping out and Charles hyperventilating. Her real mom wouldn't have minded… her real mom was more laid back. She was relaxed, opposite of Charles, but nothing like Delia. Lydia refused to repeat her mother's name in her mind, she refused to remember the pain it brought her, and to make it all simple, she tried to forget.

She never did succeed forgetting, though.

* * *

"Lydia, I know you're just growing up and finding how fun it is to stay up late," Charles said calmly, "But maybe it's time to just sit back and relax, no more staying up past ten. That is your bed time."

Lydia's eyes rolled as she looked at her feet from the back of the car and refused to look up until' they got home. "Charles, relaxing won't teach her anything. We have to teach our daughter well, and to do that she must have consequences!" Delia argued, and Lydia groaned. "Don't you whine, young lady! You are _grounded_!"

Lydia growled, but held back her urge to shout and submitted to her parents. She was now grounded. Well, that's a story to tell Beetlejuice. "Go to your room!" Delia ordered as they opened the door. Lydia ran up the stairs, faking that she was really upset for getting sent up there, and slammed the door behind her, relaxing as the doorway was sealed. "I want to go to the Neitherworld…" she murmured to herself out loud, "…but I just feel so tired. I'd rather take a nap." And so she did, collapsing on her bed face flat, stretched for a pillow, and snuggled with it sleepily. It didn't take her long to fall asleep.

* * *

"Where in the Neitherworld is she?" Beetlejuice muttered, grumbling to himself as he paced the room silently. He was bored, he had already pulled a prank on the Mayor, the towns people, Jacques, Ginger, Poopsie. There was nothing left to do! None of his body parts were stolen, nor unhappy with Beetlejuice and have run off. Nothing. Today had to be the most boring day of his afterlife… so far.

"Screw it," he decided. "I'll go find her m'self."

He walked over to the mirror that was, about as tall as he was, and peered into it. "Well _that_ explains it," he smiled, folding his arms and resting them against the frame of her vanity mirror and peering in. "Ah, Lyds," he chuckled, watching her sleep curled up on her bed. Her back was facing him, but he knew she was asleep by the slow expanding of the width of her torso as she took in breaths. He would go hover above her, but she hadn't called his name. And God knows he wouldn't tuck her in. People would think he'd gone soft.

His eyes widened as Beetlejuice heard a stirr in the quietness of Lydia's room. He looked at her briefly, to see her starting to sit up, stretch her arms, and yawn tiredly. "Hey babes," he greeted without her knowing he was present. Lydia jumped slightly and looked at her mirror, smiling now that she knew who was there. "Beetlejuice! Sorry I didn't come to the Neitherworld, today… how long was I out?" she asked, grabbing her vampire clock and looking at the green numbers. "I dunno, you tell me," Beetlejuice shrugged as she did so. "Four hours! It's already seven!"

"Aw well, babes. C'mon! Lets get going, I've had a whole bunch of things planned and….what?" he stopped going on about his ideas for the night and noticed Lydia's long stare at him.

She sighed and shook her head, smiling slightly. "Beetlejuice, I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, yeah, I'd _love_ to go with you but…"

"But?"

"I got grounded today. For sleeping in class; and you _know_ it's because I've been out past midnight with you in the Neitherworld."

"Aw! But babes!"

"Please, Beej. Just not tonight, 'kay?" she smiled at him warily, and he submitted to the look in her eyes. They were tired, upset, and yearning to just go to bed for a night. Sighing heavily, he frowned. "Allright, Lyds. But you have to make it up to me tomorrow! Just lemme walk ya to school, at least."

"Fine, Beej. Thanks," she smiled at him giggling. He smiled back for a moment, before disappearing back into the mirror.

* * *

"Sorry I wasn't able to hang out yesterday. But at least you're able to walk me to school, right?" Lydia smiled sheepishly, looking up at her best friend floating beside her on the way to school. "Yeah, sure, whatever," he shrugged, picking at something underneith one of his red fingernails. "Say, babes, hows about you and me go do something fun after your… '_Educational Journey_,'" he mocked the words that Ms. Shannon would now call her classes. Lydia giggled, "Maybe. What would you rather do? We've done almost everything there is in the Neitherworld…"

"I'm sure there's something we haven't screwed up yet, Lyds!" Beetlejuice smiled and stopped in front of her. "Besides, even if I gotta do the same activities over and over again, as long as I'm doing them with you, it doesn't really matter!"

Lydia laughed. "Same here, Beetlejuice!"

The rest of the walk was silent. Not very many subjects to talk about. Beetlejuice turned himself into an eraser and Lydia picked him up right as they reached the school's perimeter. And then the day went by slowly after that.

"I see that you are giving me your full attention today, Miss Deetz," Ms. Shannon smiled down at the girl sitting in her desk. "Yes, Ms. Shannon," Lydia smiled back up at her and continued with her notes. She figured that if she paid attention the hour would go by much quicker.

And oddly enough, it did. Lydia had all of her homework finished up in class and was caught up with everything she had missed the days she had fallen asleep.

"Hey, babes, can you meet me in the Neitherworld?"

"Why, Beej?"

"See babes, I have this kind of, meeting with a few buds in the Neither world, and, it's kinda one of those thinks where I gotta be there in person. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess," Lydia giggled, laughing at the grin plastered on her eraser. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" she whispered, and he was gone.


	2. Wrecked

"Lydia! Why did you have to stay after school yesterday?" Bertha asked, apparently trying to make small talk now that Lydia was walking out of school with them this time.

"Got in trouble for sleeping in class. The usual," she waved her hand as if to push the event away, as if it had meant nothing. "Oh," she merely said, not knowing what to reply with now that Lydia seemed not really interested in the subject. "Have you found out what you're going to be for Halloween this year?" she asked, thinking that would start a better conversation.

Lydia looked at Bertha and smiled, her eyebrows arching, eyes squinting slightly as her lips bent and curved into a devilish grin. "Have I? Sure I have! It's secret, though," she kept the look on her face to add mysteriousness to what she might be this year.

Bertha was lured into her trap, Prudence, on the other hand, couldn't really be pulled in. "Really? Can we have a hint?"

"Nope!" Lydia smiled, pulled back from her menacing smile and just beamed like she were younger than she already is. "But I'm not having a party this year. I think I just might go Trick-or-Treating with Beetleman, or Betty."

"Beetleman?" Prudence asked, then stopped and set her books down. Lydia stopped, turned around to face the two, and nodded, still smiling.  
Bertha stopped too, but standing right beside Prudence. The two girls exchanged a glance, Lydia watching them nervously. Had they been holding a conversation telepathically? "What?" Lydia asked, the happy look on her face sliding into a confused frown.

"Well, Lydia…" Bertha turned her head to look at the young Goth, wondering whether she should smile or frown. "You remember when we had that sub for science? He was young, tall, dark, and most of the girls in the class thought he was handsome?"

"Yeah?"

"Well…. Bertha and I have been thinking and, well," Prudence stumbled over her words, looking for something appropriate to say for the manner.

"Well what?" Lydia looked between the two, growing more nervous by the second. "It can't be bad, is it?"

"No! No, it's not bad!" Bertha laughed. "We just think that you have a crush on Mr. Beetleman is all!"

"What?! No! No, no, NO! Oh, _God_, no!" Lydia dropped her books and pusher her palms in the direction of the other two, rejecting the thought. Bertha and Prudence smiled and looked at each other, then looked back at Lydia as she kept screaming and throwing a fit against the idea.

"Gee, Lydia, calm down!"

Obediently, Lydia quieted down and stood there wide-eyed, looking down at her hands. Had she really thrown such a tantrum over that?

"Any bigger complaints and I'd start to get the idea that you love him!" Bertha laughed.

Lydia laughed too, this time, cooling down. "Right. Well, I guess I'll see you guys later," she smiled, picking up her books before reaching her bike on the rack and positioning herself to get on and ride herself home. "You guys can think what you want," she smiled at them, and began pedaling her way to her refuge. "But he's just a friend!" she called back, forcing a laugh as she said so. As soon as her back was turned towards the two and was well away from them down the road, she frowned.

That was new. Lydia never expected Bertha and Prudence to make that accusation of her. Liked Beetlejuice? Of all people? Come on, he was over six hundred years old, and she was only thirteen! No way that could work!

Besides, he was only her best friend. Nothing more. She didn't like him like that, right? Then why would she worry about it?

Lydia sighed. Why had fate thrown her a long bike ride home, with such a mess to think about? She'd never be able to recover from this. It was embarrassing.

Liking Beetlejuice? Yuck! He's a good friend but… no… just. No.

Shuddering to herself at the thought, Lydia rode home, silence stretching between her and the small voice in the back of her mind, telling her that it's a possibility...

In reaction to the small voice, Lydia slammed on her brakes and skid to a stop, slamming a foot on the ground to make the action, and her protesting yells a little more final. "_NO_!!"

* * *

"Beatlejoose, you are making ze mess!! I had just cleaned in 'ere too!" Jacques complained, picking up bits of paper and ribbons. "Ah, shove a tapeworm in it, numbskull!" Beetlejuice growled as he worked as fast as he could with red tipped fingers. The skeleton across the room straitened his posture, with a large amount of rapping paper held in his bony arms, and gritted his teeth in the permanent smile that now, and no one knew how he made it seem that way, looked angry.

"Beatlejoose, what in ze world are you trying to do?"

"It's three weeks till mine and Lydia's anniversary. You know the drill," Beetlejuice waved a hand, not bothering to turn around and face him. Jacques rolled his eyes and threw the trash he had picked up into the garbage. "Well, if you need me, I'll be going for a jog," he said, clearing his accent so Beetlejuice would hear him. Or so, he had hoped. But the ghost just grunted and sat up, looking at his hands. "Wow, I never was good at tying bows…" he mumbled, examining how he had been able to tie his fingers into knots around themselves.

"Gah, screw it, I'll just juice it on," he decided, and pulled his fingers from their positions and fixed the bow on the present. "Third year in a row and I still can't tie the bow to her present by myself," he mumbled. Sticking the small box into his pocket, he began whistling to himself.

Well, that was over with, having to walk out on Lydia during school because he just then remembered to get her a gift, and wasn't going to wait till the last minute. Nope, not when it came to her. Lydia had to come first, all the time, or Beetlejuice would regret it. He had a gut feeling that he always would… and his gut was pretty big.

"Beetlejuice! Want to see my new tap dancing routine?" Ginger asked while trotting into the front room, joining the poltergeist. Beetlejuice rolled his eyes. She must have been bored, and Ginger didn't seem to have too many friends, nor much of a past. But sucks for her, Beetlejuice didn't feel bad for her. "Eh… not now, Leggings," he muttered, pushing himself past her into the hallway of the roadhouse. He heard Ginger sigh, but what did he care?

Lydia, to him, was more important than Ginger's dance routines. And lately, Lydia had been more important than she usually is. Why? Because Lydia was getting older. She is now thirteen years old. And will be fourteen soon. Eventually, she'll just start to slip away, and Beetlejuice knew that. Yes, Miss Shannon's school covered all grade levels, but the higher the grade, the higher the price. Grade nine is going to cost the Deetz enough to make them move to a regular high school, and there he just knows that Lydia will make more friends beyond just Bertha and Prudence. And she'll probably make a new Best friend.

Beetlejuice stopped himself. Why did it all worry him so much? Until' he met Lydia, no, actually got to _know_ Lydia, he had only but one fear. Sandworms. Well, now he has two. Sandworms, _and_ Lydia leaving him. He knew she would. She'd have to some day.

If Lydia never did throughout her lifetime then she still would have to leave him when she dies. That would be a painful departure. Well, yeah, sure she would meet him in the Neitherworld, but he'd have to wait a few years after she be reborn to a ghoulish family before actually seeing her again. And what scared him about that part is… would she be the same?

If Lydia did die and meet with Beetlejuice a few years after being reborn into the Neitherworld, would she still be the little gothic, bug-loving, nice little girl he had learned to love for who she is, mortal or not?

He'd even freakin' bathe for that girl if she wanted him too, not that he'd like it. _Hell_ no. But he'd do it, that's for sure. Now for his mom….that's a totally different story.

"_Lydia, Lydia, Lydia,_" Beetlejuice sighed, kicking the bottoms to his favorite beetle pajamas as he strode into his room slowly. What was he to do to pass the time? For the first time in his afterlife, Beetlejuice actually didn't feel like pulling a prank. Had hell finally frozen over? With all the crap going on in his head, he just couldn't think of anything interesting to do.

_Beetlejuice!_

A tingling sensation ran down his spine, something deep within him blooming, as if feeling his heart skip a beat if it were still alive. His eyes widened at the feeling, and a smile slowly spread his lips. Someone was calling for him. Someone whom he had been missing. Then, slightly, the smile on his mouth faded. A moment passed before his name was called agian.

_Beetlejuice…_

Not as much excitement as the last time his name was called. It was weak, just a whisper. A faint exhale that said his name. She was dying. "C'mon Babes…" Beetlejuice muttered through gritted teeth, trying to rush himself to her side. Could the suspense really grow much more? A minute had passed, and she had not yet called his name. Had she have, Beetlejuice would be there and trying to find out what was wrong.

"Damn it!" he yelled finally, growing impatient. Any longer and his fingertips would start trembling. Why not that third time?! It doesn't take this long to say someone's name three times! Unless…. Unless…

"_LYDIA_!!"

* * *

"Lydia, we're going to the store! Do you want us to get you anything?"

Lydia, holding the doorknob at the ready so she could pull it open and trudge into her room, looked behind her down the hallway, thinking a moment. She had just got home; ready to go to the Neitherworld. Now, why would the thought of going to the store make her think twice?

Of course! She needed film. Lydia ran out last week, taking pictures of Beetlejuice in the Neitherwoods. And being assigned another photo project in Science was, of course, one of her specialties, and she needed more film. Why not just tell them what she wants and call for Beetlejuice while they're gone? Because Delia would get her the wrong size, she was sure of it. Along with that book that gave her something to look forward to, her camera was one of the few remaining items Lydia had left from her mother. And besides, Beetlejuice could wait.

"How about I just come along?" Lydia called back, and she heard shuffling of Delia grabbing her purse before receiving an answer. "Sure, honey! That'll be okay!" And the only reason Delia would say yes to a grounded daughter is because she knew that Lydia needed film. Delia was… well… not so familiar with what size of the rolls of film Lydia needed. Heck, Delia didn't even know what type of camera Lydia had! She just knew that it took pictures! As long as it was somewhere in the range of art, however, she would accept it.

Lydia smiled happily. Sure, she'd rather waste the film on something more in her range of interests, but Science was science, and she was going to, instead, take pictures of constellations.

This should be interesting. Laying out in her backyard at night, possibly with her best friend, sprawled out in the cool green grass and taking pictures of figures far beyond her world. Somehow, the thought felt welcoming.

The car ride to the store was well… silent. There wasn't very much conversation, but Lydia was cool with that. She didn't really want to talk to them anyways, to be honest.

Holding her camera in her hands, Lydia eyed the store eagerly. In her mind, she did a few mental rehearsals. First, she was going to pick out her film. Then she was going home. And then she'd go to the Neitherworld until' bedtime.

Sounded pretty good to her. So, now that she knew how her day was going to go, Lydia was probably the most eager one to jump out of the car. At full speed she rushed into the store, picked out a pack of film that she would need from her project, and followed Charles and Delia around until' they, too, had the products they wished to purchase.

It was a very short trip. Lydia smiled, when she was back in the car and the engine flared to life. _Beetlejuice, here I come!_ She thought mentally to herself as the car rolled into the road.

Lydia sat in the back seat, focusing hard on trying to put the film into her camera. Her tongue stuck out at the side of her mouth, as if the gesture would help draw in more concentration so she could get the film in faster. Lydia's camera was so old, she wished it didn't take so much time to get the darn film in.

The sound of tires rubbing hard against the road, screaming in protest filled her ears, and Lydia swayed hard to the side. Her head smashed into the glass of the window and her camera fell from her hands. "Beetlejuice!" she yelled out loud, using the name as a curse word so she wouldn't be grounded ten times over. Maybe even buried alive by Delia.

Again, the screaming sound of the tires rose and then was cut off this time by a sound of smashing glass. "God damn it!!" Delia screamed, as Lydia peered to the front of the car to see her fighting with the steering wheel. Lydia struggled with her seat belt, forgetting that she had never put it on. As the flat rope of fabric was slung over one shoulder, before she could buckle it in, the car jerked again and this time, she fell forward and felt her whole shoulder pull from it's place. It had become dislocated.

Screaming out loud, Lydia threw off the strap that caused her even more agony just by being there and held on tight to the door with her unharmed arm. Looking up, Lydia tried to see what was going on, but looking out the window, all she could see was a swerving car heading strait for _her_. The car T-boned right into theirs, Lydia screamed in pain as the door collapsed in on her and glass shattered all around her in the back seat. Her scream was cut off when the frame of the car door hit the back of her head, and then, with the feeling that the car was tumbling down the road, it all went black.

_Beetlejuice…_

* * *

**A/N**: I know, this chapter was short. Sorry for the shortness! Reason for that was, all the actions seemed like they needed a little place of their own. I felt like where I left off was good enough for right here. Now, the whole car wreck scene, yeah, confusing, I know, but I promise, it's supposed to sound that way. The next chapter won't be in as much of Lydia's point of view as this point was. So also, sorry for that part too. Lol, thank you for reading, and thank you to all of my lovely reviewers out there!! :D


	3. Comatose

Delia paced the waiting room, her hair a mess and her shirt blood stained. Charles, too, looked a mess as he sat there with a shaking cup of coffee in his hand, trying to at least _look_ relaxed. "Charles, you don't suppose she'll…" Delia trailed off and stopped in front of the waiting room chair he was placed in. Charles looked up, dark circles under his eyes, "She'll be fine Delia," he said quietly. His voice was quiet, that of a shy child. All this time the only thing he has ever wanted to do in his life was to just relax. For some reason, he figured that God didn't want him to. Now Lydia was in the frickin' hospital.

Delia was just as worried, but didn't look so. Dark circles appeared under her eyes too as she tried her best to just be patient. Lydia had been in surgery for about five hours now, and with most impatience, Charles and Delia just sat there biting their nails in the waiting room.

Finally, the doctor in a long white coat walked into the room his gloves still on. The only thing that the horrified couple disliked was the small grimace on his face. "Well?" Delia asked, holding Charles close to herself, as if preparing herself for the words and to scream and cry into his shoulder. "She'll be fine," he said, but sighed, "Her head was pretty damaged though. What all happened? This girl couldn't have fell down the stairs…"

"Someone ran a headlight down in the intersection by the store. He only got the nose of the car but when we swerved farther down the road another car hit us square on the side, right where Lydia was sitting," Delia explained in a shaky voice. "We didn't get hit too bad, but the car ended up rolling down the road, if it weren't for our seatbelts we would be in the same condition she is. The door collapsed in on her too, but Charles and I don't know if it hit her in the head when she was trying to get up or what…" she couldn't finish.

"We'll have to see what happens when she wakes up, Mr. and Mrs. Deetz. If anything, I'm worried that she has total brain damage, but it's very unpredictable at the moment…"

"When will she wake up?"

"We had to put her in a coma to reduce her pain. I don't know how long she'll be asleep, but we're hoping that it helps."

Delia reacted to this very slowly. Gradually she started shaking by the limbs and then just burst out into yells, throwing tantrums and cursing at whatever God did this to her. Charles, on the other hand, stood perfectly still… not saying a word about his poor little girl…

* * *

Her eyes fluttered slightly as she tried to open her eyes. The light... it was just so bright, she could barely make out where she was.

Not even remembering how she got there, the girl sat up and gripped her chest, breathing heavily. The eyes that she was seeing from, eyes she wasn't even sure belonged to _her_, scanned the room. White tiles, white ceiling, white sheets of the bed that she had just figured out she had been sleeping in. Voices mumbled outside the door, just barely visible around the corner of the wall, the sound of running footsteps, rushing wheels, and telephones filled her ears. The girl began breathing heavily again. How had she ended up in the hospital?! Looking back, she doesn't even remember anything until' just now!

Her vision cleared up a little more, and she began examining the room for every detail. Every bit of it, trying to see if she'd find anything familiar, but failed. Looking down at her arm, she noticed the I.V. and a needle in her wrist. And on her other hand, what looked like a clip of some kind on her finger. She doesn't even remember what the clip does! Why can't she remember anything?!

Panicking, she covered her mouth with her hands and muffled her screams. Lowering her head, she looked down, but then noticed something. Black? The only color that seemed to be in the room was black, and she looked up a bit more and ran her finger across the blackness right over her eyes. Bangs? Her hair was black? And… short? Her skin was even pale. She frowned, was she here because she was so sickening pale she might have had a disease of some kind? Sitting up, the girl looked across the room, and then slowly to here left, knowing a Mirror was there, yet not knowing who was in it.

When her gaze reached the point to where she could see who was staring back at her, she just looked in awe. Her finger tips ran up to her cheek bones and caressed the soft, pale skin slowly. Then they traced the dark circles around her eyes, and just felt around the unfamiliar face. "Who am I…" she murmured to herself.

"Lydia Deetz, of course!" came a gruff voice, exclaiming the name hastily as the figure in the mirror changed and now took the shape of her once loved poltergeist. Though _she_ didn't know that.

The girl sat there in horror, and screamed loudly, trying to get up as the needles were ripped from their places and she struggled to get out and run. "Babes! Calm down!" the ghost yelled to her, but she couldn't hear him under her loud screams and attempts to get away. Loud beeping noises started to drown her out, and the confused girl stopped, looking around at the machinery surrounding either side of the bed. "Someone hold her down!" a doctor yelled as he rushed into the room. "I'll go call for help!" a young nurse cried and ran back out the doorway to the nearest phone.

Again, she just stood there, watching all of this happen too fast. Looking back over at the mirror, the figure who had stolen her shape was gone, replaced with the face she had been seeing in the first place. "Come on, babes! Say the magic B words!" the same voice from just moments ago whispered to her. She looked down at the nightstand by her hospital bed, and screamed again. She threw her arms around, now that she was being pinned to the bed. She looked back at the lamp, the stripes and face it once had a moment ago were gone, but she still wanted out.

The girl screamed and kicked, yelling and protesting. A doctor and a nurse were holding her down, while another doctor had walked into the room with a shot. "Let me out of here!! Let. Me. OUT! Let go of me! Please, don't do this to me!" She begged, pleaded, and cried as her bare feet kicked into the air, her back arched off the mattress, and her body tried to free itself but none of her attempts were working.

The girl was trapped, and when she gave up, breathing deeply, she could only watch with a horrified gaze as the needle was stuck into her arm. With another shout of pain, the girl screamed again. And the sudden jolt from energy she once had, caused by the pain of the needle stuck into her arm, faded fast as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

And everything went black…

* * *

"How long has it been, Charles?" Delia asked lazily, her long hair frizzy and in a messy pony tail. Her eyes, sunken from lack of sleep, cracked open slightly to peer over at her husband. Charles sat by his wife, whom was sprawled out lazily on the couch, and attempted to read a newspaper. Though, the fact that his daughter has been in a coma for about two months doesn't really give him the focus he needs to be able to read, at the most, three words.

"About twenty Minutes, Delia. Visiting hours don't start till nine, remember?"

"I know, but it just seems like it's already been a half hour."

"Time will fly by, dear…" Charles murmured, wondering if he should only say the next line in his head, "Just relax…"

Delia jumped up to the sound of the phone ringing. "I'll get it!" she called, as if she wasn't the only one willing to pick up the phone, and answered a small telephone hanging in the kitchen. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Deetz?"

"Yes? Who is this?"

"I'm Dr. Anderson, from the hospital. I was just calling to tell you that your daughter has just woken up this morning," the doctor said, and Delia had to muffle her cry of awed joy. "So she's going to recover well?"

"Well…" Dr. Anderson trailed off, and Delia began to frown again, "she'll be fine, Mrs. Deetz. Don't worry about that. It's just, that… she doesn't remember at all who she is. I'm afraid she's suffering from permanent amnesia. You'll have to come see for yourself, Mrs. Deetz. There are, also, a few things I'd like to discuss with you and your husband."

"Yes, of course," Delia said slowly, and hung up the phone. She walked back into the living room and began looking for the car keys. "Lets start heading over there, Charles," Delia sighed. "She woke up this morning."

"Really?" Charles smiled, standing up, but then frowned again at Delia's behavior. "Why are you acting as though it's a bad thing?"

"She doesn't remember a thing." Delia didn't look him in the eye as she walked by him to the kitchen for a split second, then came back with her purse and started heading for the door.

* * *

"Lydia? My name is Lydia?"

"Yes," nodded the nurse, smiling brightly. Lydia slightly envied the woman sitting before her, across from her in a chair by the foot of her bed. The nurse was indeed beautiful, with long golden locks, eyes a bright blue color, and lips as red as a rose. Even though Lydia, herself, was beautiful in a dark mysterious way, she still had that natural ping of jealousy for anyone with beauty as such. "How old am I?"

"You're parents described you as thirteen," the nurse smiled. She never did seem to stop smiling.

"And why are you still in here while the other doctors are probly trying to find me a strait jacket?" Lydia asked again. Her plan was to ask so many questions the nurse would probably go insane, but she was failing epically right now at doing so. "I'm supposed to stay here with you in case something like that happens again. And because I was supposed to start telling you these things again, anyway." she shrugged.

She just sat there, in a cotton shirt and pants, probably the new uniform for nurses now, both the same shade of blue. It looked kind of like a surgeon's uniform, but maybe that was the point…

"What's your name?"

"Oh! You can call me Pam," the nurse smiled again. Why was she smiling so much? "Is my Mom and Dad coming?" Ask about her parents… that was indeed not too smart. As far as she knew, she couldn't even remember her parents. What in the world made her think she'd be able to ask any questions about them? Pam surely wouldn't be able to answer much. "The doctor was supposed to make a phone call informing your parents that you have finally woken up."

"How long was I out?"

"Two months."

"Wow…" she murmured. Lydia didn't really get this. "And shouldn't my parents be by my bedside right now?" It would be decent. Lydia would rather wake up to parents she doesn't even remember rather than some kind of… creature taking over her reflection in the mirror. "It wasn't visiting hours, and we had to kick them out after a few weeks. They never left when we had to take precautions to keep you alive," Pam sighed, the smile fading slightly. Well it's about damn time, that smile never seemed to die at the least! It was nice to see a smiling face, creepy to see the same face smiling for an extended period of time.

"I want to see my Lydia!" A shrill voice yelled as followed by the stomp of an angry foot. "Why can't I see her?!"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Deetz, but Dr. Anderson told you wrong, you're not allowed to see your daughter at the moment."

"Mom?" Lydia murmured in a small voice, wishing she could jump off the bed and run in her direction but was only allowed to sit up in her bed; nothing more. "Mom!" Lydia cried, her heart racing, longing to see whom she belonged to. Feeling like you had parents you didn't know wasn't a walk in the park, and left this huge gaping hole in her heart. Hell, she don't remember anything from the time she were born!

"Mom! Dad! I'm in here!" Lydia yelled, hoping her Father were there too. "Lydia? Lydia, oh my god!" a red headed woman started to storm into the room but slowed down instantly at the sight of her step-daughter(Lydia still didn't know this), pure shock on her face. Pam stood up in front of Delia, and tried to guide her out of the room to fulfill the doctor's request. "Don't make them go!" Lydia yelled at Pam, and restricted to do both as her patients, and the doctors say, she didn't know what to do.

Instructed to let them stay, the beautiful nurse frowned and retreated, allowing both Lydia's mother and father to pass through. "Oh, Pumpkin!" the figure of her father put a hand to his mouth and rushed to the side of Lydia's bed. Her eyes, wary from being held in bed and scared shitless by some form of a ghost and her bedside lamp, watched him with a small smile played on her lips. "Dad?" she asked, reaching a hand toward him only to have it forced back down by the pull of the I.V. cord.

The woman from moments before joined his side, gripping his arm. "Mom?" Lydia looked at her with wide curious eyes, finding no trace of heritage in her mother's features that she could possibly have on her own. "_Step_-Mother," the woman corrected, a slight smile on her face along with worried eyes. "But you still can call me mom." Lydia nodded and looked back at her father. "Have they told you about your condition yet?"

"I think I would have recognized it myself, saying as though I woke up not remembering who I was most importantly," she smiled humorously, though on the inside, died at the feet of the thought. She shuttered, wondering if she'd ever be able to remember anything at all sometime soon. She really hoped so…

"Charles you stay here and talk to her. I'm going to go arrange for when we can take Lydia home," Delia sighed with a smile, and left out the doorway.

* * *

"DAMNIT!!" Yelled a gruff voice and a flash of yellow energy crossed the dark, twisted looking room and shattered the glass of a picture. "What's wrong with her?! She's become a little wench! Like she doesn't even want to talk to me!" the same voice rambled and furniture flew from one end of the room to the other as victims of the poltergeist's tantrum. "And why the hell was she in the hospital?! Two freakin' months and every time I try to see her she was asleep, and then when I finally see her awake, she retreats from me?! Am I too scary for her?!" he yelled at himself again, as Beetlejuice picked up a lamp and threw it across the room. His shoulders relaxed to the soothing sound of glass shattering into the wall, and then falling into bits and pieces on the wood floor.

"I'll show her scary, all right…" he muttered, kicking a chair before heading down the hall and balling his fists as he slammed the door shut. "I'll scare 'er good…"

* * *

"We have to what?!"

"It's just a suggestion, but it would be best," the doctor before them said, standing outside Lydia's room. "Move out of Winter Rivers, just for now," he grimaced, "If you really like it here, only go for a year or so."

"Why?!" Charles edged forward a bit, as if readying himself to tackle the doctor before him. "When she woke up, she was seeing things. It might be a memory of some sort, a scary one, though, only triggered by location. Just get her home, move somewhere else, and maybe after a year when she's caught up with her own life you can move back here."

"Seeing things?"

"We didn't know she woke up until' the machines started beeping like mad. She was about to run loose throughout the whole hospital with an I.V. cord stuck on her wrist just to get away from whatever she was seeing. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but it would do her some good." Delia pulled Charles back more to her side, and only gave the doctor a stern frown.

"All right," she sighed, Charles looking at her shocked that she would be giving up so easily. "We'll move. We've been needing to get a nice long vacation anyway. Maybe a few year trip won't be so bad."

Charles grit his teeth and held his tongue, only waiting till they were in the car to have a nice… probably long talk.

Lydia sat in her room, dressed in clothes only that seemed a tad bit familiar. "Come on, Lydia," Charles sighed as he walked into the room, followed by Delia. With sunken sad eyes, she watched them warily and did as she was told, sliding onto the floor and hearing the heels of her shoes click onto the ground. For some reason, she liked the sound, and started to pace the room slowly, savoring it as she followed her father and _step_ mother out of the room.

Getting out of the hospital seemed to take forever, but Lydia managed. They had to sign a bunch of release forms, some which needed Lydia's signature too. "Uhhh…" she stared blankly down at the line after her first name, copying the cursive that Delia used into the form of her own name for the signature. "How do I spell Deetz, again?" she asked, not able to read how Delia had written hers. "D-e-e-t-z," Charles smiled, resting a hand on her shoulder and Lydia smiled, scribbling her last name on the paper.

The car they hopped in wasn't very familiar to Lydia in the least bit as her clothes were. It seemed completely alien to her. Hell…. _everything_ seemed alien. She doesn't even remember what country she's in!

"Why did you give up so easily, Delia?!"

"Charles, we can move back any time we want to! And we need to! Do you want her living here seeing whatever she saw?!"

He was silent, and Lydia felt as if she had missed a whole entire conversation. Sitting in the back seat, she just looked out the window, trying to forget everything that just happened like she had about her whole entire past, and tried to remember the landscaping running far beyond her window.

Eventually a large white house shown itself in the distance, and Lydia rose up with excitement. She thought it was beautiful, so by itself, so white, with such a mysterious look to it. It even made her smile more to see that it was their destination.

Entering the house in awed amazement, Lydia looked around at the inside. Still no sign of familiarity in her environment, but she didn't care, she liked it where she was. "Wow…"

"Here, Pumpkin," Charles walked into the door and ran upstairs. Lydia followed him up for about three steps and then stopped when her father returned handing her something she couldn't quite see well in the darkness of the hallway. "What is it?"

"It was yours at one point. The only thing that wasn't damaged in the crash…" Charles fell silent and just left her standing there. Lydia looked down at the contraption in her hands, mouth hung open. This was hers?

She lifted it up a little, and examined what looked like to be a very old, yet decent, camera.

**A/N: **Okay, one, I'm _so_ sorry this took so long to get up! Like I said, though, updates might take a bit, so bare with me... please? ; We've been having the plague in our household, so it's gonna be a little hard for me to keep myself focused here, but I'm working on it! I wasn't too happy with this chapter myself, it feels like it was put together so sloppily but I just didn't know how else to write it. I promise the next one will be better!! Thank you for sticking with me, here! Lol!


	4. Damn Her

**A/N: **Okay, I owe you all an apology. I've been updating so slow I might as well wack myself in the head. Hard. Down to business; Big time jump. Sorry if that disappoints those who wanted to know what happens between her moving and then right now. Unfortunately, I don't have the attention span to sit my ass down and type all that out. _But_ the events happening that were skipped in this time warp will be revealed, no less! Only in flash backs and deep thoughts that our characters might encounter on our little adventure. I hope you guys aren't too mad at me!! D:

I'll shut the hell up and let you read now.

* * *

What the hell? One moment she was standing there, her mouth nipped shut by a steel piece of metal bolted to her jaws, and now she was back on… Saturn? Oh hell no. Barbara hesitated in her spot, her wedding dress turning slightly yellow at the bottom, thanks to all the sand. Turning her hips around, she realized that without his presence, the gag thrown onto her mouth was no longer engaged. Well, that's something to look forward to.

Yet still, she wasn't to relax yet. The ghost whined slightly to herself, a small murmur of fear as she heard the screech of a large sandworm appearing in the distance, looking rather like a dolphin as it looped in and out of the sand to move.

* * *

The sandworm reared it's head back, sniffing the air. It sensed a presence, that of a ghost. Though they were the only source of food he's ever really had around here, he didn't like eating ghosts too much now, now that one certain ghost has proven to him that they are worthy of being left alone. _The ghost with the most,_ he called himself, and that little girl, too. The one that stood beside him and took the sandworm down from the net as a baby, scared and almost hunted.

He looked forward to seeing them again, after that, but he never did run into them too often. The memory of which, was fading slightly as his instincts took over, telling him to feed himself.

Obeying his instincts, the sandworm eyed his victim, rearing his head back in a roar and shifting his head to the point that the top skin folded back and revealed the head beneath it, the one that ate to keep him alive.

But then he stopped, folding the mouth of the top head back over the offensive one, and eyed the woman again. That scent, that incredibly familiar scent that sent his beady red eyes growing wide. Apparently this ghost knows her. The woman with the curliest brown hair he'd ever seen has actually been close to the little girl whom had saved his life years ago.

And, not only the little girl's scent, but the rotting stench of her ghost companion at the time. That striped oaf, whom he had thanked yet the poltergeist had rejected his appreciated thanks hastily. The memory brought a slight frown to his large mouth, yet how the little girl was so nice to him, even after he had tried to eat her himself as his first snack. A breather, no less. Thought breathers weren't as appetizing, they were better for sandworms rather than ghosts. They held more nutrition rather than spiritual energy, but that's what the monsters were for, too, he supposed.

What had surprised the large sandworm himself was the fact that the girl's scent was drenched in fear of that oaf. And somehow it had gotten all over this woman, whom was probably attempting to protect her. Yet from what? The fear wasn't great, yet it was enough to set the sand worm off, and he bent lower to get a stronger whiff of the stench. As a sandworm he was able to smell just more than a certain scent, but what that scent is, has, and why it's there. It sometimes made it easier for them to hunt, make them take it to their advantage.

Yet, he was getting a closer look for a whole new reason, and the woman reached by raising an arm and whacking aimlessly at him, trying to knock it back with her own fear. But before she could really hit him, he pulled back and watched her. She was fearing the poltergeist herself, him a little more, but still fear of that same man.

Watching the woman for just a split second, he trailed her scent and looked over to a door, possibly back to her house. This he hoped for, and lowered his back to her.

* * *

Barbara's heart was racing, unsure of what this sandworm was going to do. He was studying her. Though it didn't last long, it felt like it was taking forever. And when it had lowered its back down to her side, she hesitated. Was it wanting her to hop on? Where would it take her? Why was it doing this instead of eating her? These questions, and many more, kept looping around her head as her body told her, '_yes, take the offer.'_

With a shaking hand, the ghost-woman slid one leg over the sandworm, and mounted herself on him. It was large, scaly, almost like an oversized snake, yet thankfully to much of the fabric on her dress, she didn't have to feel it anywhere else but her hands.

Gripping the fin on the back of the sandworm, Barbara held on as the large creature reared back it's head and leapt into the air with the push of it's tail, flying over a door, _her_ door, and broke suddenly into the room beside the dining room. Whatever room it was, she didn't know how the sandworm could sense it there at all. Her eyes widened in fear that she would crash hard into the floor yet not knowing that the sandworm would also put a huge hole in it.

As fast as she could, she shifted herself and leapt off the worm and by Adam's side, not bothering to watch the creature rip a pit into the middle of the room and turned herself into her husband's embrace. Finally, turning her head to see what has been done, she sighed with relief. The sandworm, to her, was an ally for simply getting rid of the one pest she probably will never have to see again in her afterlife.

All attention now turned towards Lydia, whom now stood in the center between the two married couples, glad she, herself, wasn't married. Looking back and forth between the Maitlands and the Deetzes, Lydia smiled as they just looked at each other warily, happy that her parents finally believe her, and that she wasn't the only one in the house able to see them. Seriously… having been turned to for communicational purposes constantly was starting to get annoying.

Lydia sighed, and slipped the ring off her finger, tossing it into the pit as well as the glove on her hand with it. Smiling to herself, content that it wasn't cursed to stay on her finger, Lydia took a few steps back and stopped, running into something. "Sorry!" she apologized to the little creature in the demented fire place. He just looked at her with the same damn expression he'd held all night, turned, and left through the fireplace just as it began to bend into its normal shape.

Huffing slightly at the rude behavior, Lydia shrugged it off and looked back between her two sets of parents, both obviously getting use to the site of each other quickly. "Guys?"

"Yes, honey?" Barbara looked at her with a concerned gaze, obviously aware how everyone must be feeling about this. "Can I… can I go upstairs now?" she asked quietly, wanting more than anything just a hot shower and a good night's sleep, and to forget about it all. Including the Ghost with the Most. "Yes, Pumpkin, go on up…" Charles nodded, grimacing still, though. Everyone must be exhausted, he figured. He supposed that everyone would take action later, and find out what their game plan for this outcome would be.

Anxious for relaxation, mutch like her own father had been for the past few months they'd lived here, Lydia ran upstairs to her room and began ripping the ties and nets and such from her hair. Throwing her shoes off, and attempting to unzip the dress by herself, Lydia froze, horror struck on her face. She stared with awe pure in her emotions as she examined the ring laying there on her pillow.

* * *

"The Blinker! Turn on the blinker!"

Lydia swerved to the right to dodge a car coming down the road. She inhaled a deep breath and did her best not to crash. In her attempt to stay on the road, Lydia slammed on the breaks and swerved left into the road she intended on turning into just moments before, and then drifted to a stop.

Charles sat there breathless in the passenger seat, gripping whatever he could to keep himself alive while his daughter was at the wheel. He never would have guessed that she could be a possible reason for his death. Yet, teaching her to drive would be cause enough when she forgets how to turn in the middle of traffic. "Sorry dad…" Lydia murmured, feeling like a complete dumb ass. "Don't worry, pumpkin. It's you're first time."

"I forgot how to turn the blinker on."

"Don't worry about it now. Just go strait and we'll be back home."

Lydia nodded and went over the gears, making sure that it was on, and that it was in drive. After checking her position, she smiled and let go of the break just enough to get the car moving, and slowly let go of it as she went, eventually getting comfortable with the speed enough to start hitting the gas.

The rest of the drive was silent, and Lydia didn't really like it too much. She didn't want to turn on the radio, in fear that it might distract her from her driving lesson, and kept both hands on the wheel.

Cautiously, she turned into the rocky driveway and parked the car. Lydia smiled and pulled out the keys, handing them to her father and exited the car. She was pleased with herself, for doing semi-well at her first time driving. She was excited at all that she gets a driver's permit.

As she opened the door, Lydia was greeted by Barbara first. "Oh honey! How was it?" she asked hugging her foster daughter. "It was all right. I forgot how to turn a blinker, other than that I did fine," Lydia hugged her back and then moved to Adam who wished to greet her as well. "Well, at least you didn't have too much trouble," he smiled as Lydia hugged him too, and started for her room. Barbara sighed, her shoulders sagging a little at the sight. Lately Lydia has been spending more time in her room after being rewarded for tests or spending, the smallest bit of time with family. Much like her father, she went off to do her own little thing. Adam tucked an arm around his wife as they greeted Charles as well with a warming smile, and Charles just smiled back, following his daughter upstairs and made his way to his study.

Lydia sighed with relief as she closed the door behind her. Her eyes scanned the room, as if making sure that no one were watching, and smiled to herself. Starting to her bed, she stopped in her tracks, staring at her pillow. "What the fuck!" she yelled to herself as she picked up the ring for about the third time that Saturday. Why; why her? Every single time she throws that ring away, destroys it, makes it impossible to wear it some how finds its way back onto her pillow. What the hell? Lydia growled in frustration. For about the past month and a half, she has been occupying herself in her room by trying to destroy the ring. She was getting fed up with it.

"I would call him, make him get rid of it," she thought to herself out loud. "But then he'd probably do something incredibly stupid."

Deciding that she didn't want to mess with the ring at the moment, Lydia made her way to the mirror to brush her hair. After trying to drive her hair felt like a mess, and she didn't have anything better to do at the moment.

She sat there, staring at her reflection. Her black hair cut like it had always been since the day…. When had she woke up again? The day that… well… she didn't remember anything. Lydia had been so focused on who she was before, trying to remember her mother, her friends, where she once lived but she forgot all of that, and could only remember New York.

Lydia ran her fingers through her hair several times to undo it from her usual up do. Looking at her short hair, staring deep into the eyes of her reflection, Lydia frowned. Was this what she use to be? She figured that going back to who she was would help her remember, but Delia does nothing but tell her differently. She remembers a few times when they were in New York shops, and Delia kept telling Lydia what cute outfits she use to wear. Yet, Lydia doubted so highly; each outfit picked out by Delia was either pink or something Lydia just wasn't. Charles, when Delia wasn't looking, would tell her the truth. Her favorite color, what she interested in, all of these things and when Lydia tried them out for herself, found that she really took a liking to them either way.

Tracing the dark circles of her eyes, now, the gothic teen grimaced slightly. Though she was very confident in her likes, now that she has tried things that she was sure she liked in the past, Lydia still couldn't help but feel self conscious about herself. Was it just that natural teen ability? She didn't know; she was sixteen for god's sake.

She sat there for a few more moments, and turned her head back to the ring, her eyes narrowing. That stupid idiot! Who does he think he is? Well, the Ghost with the Most, of course but… Lydia stood up and stepped slowly to her bed. Pale fingers picked up the ring and held it in her palm as she stared down at it.

His name… his voice, all of it too seemingly familiar. Had that whole time she could have sent him away herself, and she hadn't, because she was trying to pin point why he seemed so… what? Lydia didn't know. Just being around him, it made her feel like she knew herself at all. Was that just him juicing her? Why? Staring down at the ring, the frown on Lydia's face deepened along with her thoughts.

"Why must you be so complicated… even _after_ you're gone…"

* * *

"Damn her! Damn her to hell, I don't care about that little bitch _anymore_!"

"Stuff it Betelgeuse!" Juno slammed a fist on her desk as she held the fingers of her free hand up to her forehead, as if it would cure her headache. "I know she agreed," she muttered, keeping her hand to her forehead. "Lydia Deetz is still in the deal until' you call it off."

"Tell me something I don't know, you old hag."

"Okay, well, how about this; Lydia Deetz is now the only one able to call you since the deal is still on."

"What?!" Beetlejuice leaned forward in his chair, baring his teeth. "That's right," Juno smiled slightly, seeing how it pissed him off to know this. "Fine, then the deal's off," he said. He'd rather try to start all over again with someone else than have _her_ be the only one eligible to call him. "Not that simple," Juno groaned, and fell back in her chair. This time it was Beetlejuice's turn to smile, seeing that throwing off the deal will cause her more paper work.

"Not just the paper work, but you can't call off the Deal unless if Lydia signs a few papers herself," Juno lit a new cigarette and took a long drag, blowing out the smoke through the slit in her neck and looked at Beetlejuice. "Which means you'll have to pay her a little visit."

"Fuck. No."

Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes at the woman. Hissing through his teeth, he clicked his tongue and prepared himself to snap at her, until' she startled him with what he least expected. "And what the hell is this?" Juno asked, slamming a file down on her desk in front of him. "I don't know, what is it?"

"You tell me."

Beetlejuice grabbed the file and looked at the label on it. _Lydia Deetz_.

"She has her own file. She shouldn't have one of those until' she's married, not only that, but it's filled with a whole bunch of crap. I always figured she was reborn in the Neitherworld and was just causing trouble. I had no damn clue till now that she was alive."

"Whoa…" Beetlejuice opened it up and saw her twelve-year-old picture in it and gritted his teeth. At the sight of it, he snarled at the file, slammed it shut, and threw it back on Juno's desk. Juno eyed him warily and picked up the file more gently than he had thrown it back down. Opening the file, she merely grimaced, and gritted her teeth in attempt to keep her anger muffled. "Just get out of here," she said finally. "Get out, and make her sign these god damn documents if you want the deal to be off." Juno took another puff of her cigarette as she threw a small packet of papers at him and turned her back to the annoying poltergeist.

Beetlejuice looked at her a moment, his face twisting in a scowl as he became more confused by the second. "No more yelling?" he asked, shifting the scowl to a smug grin now. "If I yell I'll end up breaking every piece of glass in this god damn place, now get outta here and just get those damned papers signed," she hissed through gritted teeth as smoke exhaled through the gash in her neck. "_Now_."

And within a minute, Beetlejuice felt himself being sent away and back into the dusty hell hole of the old Road House.

"God Damn it!"

Beetlejuice stood up, the packet of papers fell to the floor as he did so. He picked them up and glared down at them as they were almost crumpled in his large hands. "I don't even know where to find the damn girl…" he sighed, frowning a bit at the memories.

Why was she being so difficult? Well… yeah, the last time he ever saw her was in a friggin' hospital, but it couldn't have been that bad, could it? She could have gotten her tonsils removed 'er something', but then why be in a hospital for two months?

Beetlejuice growled at his own mind, damning it to hell for being so oblivious and why he just couldn't figure it out. But that's not the point now! Now she's somewhere… some where out _there_. In the living room, back in that dreaded house, he supposed. Where had she gone earlier? After the incident in the hospital he tried to visit her in her room and she wasn't there. Like they had left right after getting home. What the hell?

Beetlejuice gritted his teeth. After all he'd done for that damn girl, he waited for her to come back, planned out his apologies. Got a fucking job just to prove how sorry he was! With Juno, no less. He didn't even know the dead _had_ caseworkers before that, mostly because he didn't have to visit one after he died.

Still, he did do something for a living rather than just taking money from people. He did his best, became her main assistant and eventually he figured she had died herself. But no, unfortunately, it was an illusion. Apparently since they had his help in the Neitherworld, it made time in the afterlife go by faster. _Much_ faster. A day became a week, weeks became months, months became years, and not even two weeks had gone by in the real world. He still didn't get that.

And yet, when he realized that he had been working for too long, letting the tobacco get to his head, he quit. _Damn this place,_ Beetlejuice remembered saying to Juno before leaving, _I have better things to go on with._ He didn't. He just missed Lydia; missed her dearly. He had lost his best friend for life, and like she had promised to be there forever, she wasn't. This sent him mad, the fact that she'd just leave him like that.

And then she freakin' promises to marry him! Why the hell had he ask for that anyway? Beetlejuice was about ready to punch himself in the face. He growled, knowing why he had done that after all. There was actually more to it than just wanting to get out. He was mad at her, and he wanted her to stay. If they were married, she'd have stayed with him no matter what, unless if she some how gets the right to get divorced. More than anything, he just didn't want to let her go again. He was angry with her, upset that she would leave him yet he still wanted her by his side. And if marrying her would do the trick than damn it he'd do it.

What surprised him even further was that she had agreed, and after he had said her vows for her she didn't try to pull away anymore. Either she was just so scared or… or what? What could that be?

Beetlejuice stared down at the papers blankly as his mind raced. Sure, that was just a few months ago, after he had gotten eaten by a god damn sandworm. He would hold a grudge against that, sure, but there were bigger things to complain about.

For starters, did he really want to end this with her? Well, obviously she just doesn't want to be around him anymore. Fine. So be it. Beetlejuice decided that no longer will he bug her, and if he does happen to see her some time in the future he won't as much spare her a passing glance. Fuck her. Who needs her anyways? Beetlejuice sure doesn't. Who's gonna try and tell him different?

And as if right on cue, Jacques entered the front room, slightly out of breath from his afternoon jog. "Beatlejoose-"

"Fuck. You."

And with that, he stood up and started for the door before the skeleton could get in another word.


	5. Nice Little Reunion

Lydia yawned and slammed her hand on her digital alarm clock in blind attempt to shut off the irritating noises. Yet, the sound didn't stop, and she slammed her hand down again, but only to miss the clock completely. Third time's the charm, she thought sleepily to herself, and tried again. Success! The noise had stopped; Lydia smiled and let out a sigh of contentment, now that her room was quiet.

The silence wasn't long, unfortunately for her, as Barbara opened the door and walked in silently. Lydia opened one eye and watched her, like a beast that has been awakened. "Time to get up, Hon," Barb smiled and gracefully made her way to Lydia's window. Lydia flinched, knowing the light would blind her, and hissed like a vampire, shifting so she could shield herself.

When the light flooded the room as her dark curtains were pulled back, Lydia wrinkled her nose and squinted through the light in attempt to find Barbara. "I was awake before you blinded me," she pursed her lips, not able to stand how bright it was. "And why are you waking me up like this on a Sunday?"

* * *

Lydia grumbled, annoyed that she was forced to get up the way Barb had literally_ brightened_ her day. She checked herself in the mirror before heading downstairs; a black T-shirt and jeans, nothing too drastic. Still, she scowled. Was she ever happy with herself?

Turning and starting for the door, Lydia wondered if she'd ever accepted herself. "Someday…" she decided, and then stopped thinking all together. Her fingers moved, and her eyes widened. She felt something. Something cool, almost feeling wet because of the chill it put into her bones, was on her finger. Lydia looked down and saw the ring on her hand, and gasped. It hasn't done that before… hadn't she thrown that damn thing out the window five minutes ago? Maybe she forgot…

Lydia shuddered, and pulled the ring off with ease. However it had gotten there, it wasn't there now. "Stop sending this damn thing to me," she growled to the thin air of her room, expecting him to be there and hear her. Deciding not to stay around with whatever retort he could come up with if he were there, she tossed the ring into her room(aiming for her bed), and left quickly.

Soon as she was down stairs, Lydia walked into the kitchen and waited by Barbara, whom was setting the table and getting ready to make breakfast for the family. "What all did you need again?" she asked, messing with one of her fingernails while waiting for a reply.

Barbara turned to face the girl and smiled, happy to see that she was now downstairs. "Could you run to the store for me and grab a few things? Just milk and eggs," she said, and Lydia looked up at her with a smile, putting her hands down at her sides now. "Sure," Lydia smiled. "Oh! Honey, are you going to the store?" Adam asked, hearing their conversation and came around the corner and into the kitchen. "If it's not a lot, could you also get me some new brushes for the models? Since they were planning on putting the separate schools together, I'm going to need a smaller size."

"It's not too much, guys. Really, I like doing things for you," Lydia smiled. And she did. It gave her something to do, and Lydia had found it quite easier for her to think when doing so.

And before fate had conspired to give her a longer list, she hugged them both and put on her black jacket, the one she'd worn when they first arrived here, and started for the door. "I'll be back soon," she called again, and shut the door behind her.

Lydia stood there for a minute in front of the door, admiring the scene before her. She drew in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly as she watched her breath appear before her, watching it dissipate as it stretched out further and then was no longer able to be seen. Oh how she loved that affect of the fall, when some days just seemed colder than the rest. And today happened just to be that day. Lydia started breathing at her normal rate as she shivered with pleasure at the cold, and ventured toward the driveway to her bike.

The leaves crunched beneath her feet, and Lydia couldn't think of anything else but how much she loved it. Well… she _could_ think of a few things…

Her bike was halfway down the driveway when Lydia looked up and stared long and hard at her bedroom window. She bit her lower lip, eyebrows pulling together as she frowned. Lydia turned her back to the house now, and hopped onto her bike. With a few pushes, she started pedaling steadily, trying to concentrate on savoring the surroundings. But she couldn't. Lydia frowned at herself, and tried harder as she pushed the thoughts out of her mind. Yet no matter how relaxing the setting was, the disturbing thoughts would press themselves to the front of her mind.

Back in New York, Lydia didn't remember where they lived before that. She remembered when they were fairly new to the city, though, and how nice Delia was back then too. She had always loved art, from what Lydia had seen, and her father was always restless. At least he was the same.

At first, Lydia was semi-bright when they were first there, experimenting with as many styles as she could, wondering if any one of them would seem familiar. Nerds, geeks, preps, sporty stuff, and then finally she ventured to the darker side. She liked spooky things, and found Halloween her most enjoyable holiday. Though, Delia had tried so hard to lie to her about who she once was, tried hard to make her something she wasn't, and Lydia knew so from when her and Charles were by their selves. He actually seemed pretty relaxed back in New York as well, but is now actually even more relaxed here. As for Delia, well… trying to get Lydia to wear pink was a hassle. Eventually, she gave up and became cranky that she couldn't do so. _Which is why she's called the Mega-Bitch to this very day,_ Lydia thought to herself, pushing onward.

The cold wind hit her face, and gave her that very chill she felt the day they were leaving New York City. She had heard some discussion from Charles' study a week before they left.

Lydia could vaguely remember it. Though the confusion of that, and who she was, again, bothered her to know end. Yes, it was annoying to her, bringing it up all the time, but she wanted to remember. So badly had she wanted to. Her mind slipped back to the conversation between her step-mother and her father…

"_Charles, do you really think it's a good idea?"_

"_Come on, Delia. We've been here for almost four years, I think she's calmed down enough already. And besides, Maxi Dean has been looking for something new. This could be our chance!"_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_More than sure, honey. Lydia needs it. She's not happy here in New York. She was much happier…"_

"_Back there? Before the accident?"_

"_Yeah…she's been going almost as if she were never harmed then. Maybe she'd be happier back at Peaceful Pines."_

Well… it's called Winter River, now.

Lydia shuttered at what they meant by, _accident_. So something happened to her. Well she had known that, but they never had told her exactly _what_ had happened. And Lydia didn't mind, because that information didn't take her any farther down the road as does what her name is. She scowled, and swerved her bike to a stop just before the store, her hair blowing slightly to the side as she did so.

It was a graceful move, she had learned to do so from being late to school so many times. Now she'd be double late once they finish putting the boy's and girl's schools together. It was an all right move for the small town, good for teaching the boys how to respect girls, and vice versa for the girls to respect the guys. Maybe dances would be more fun, too? They were thinking of having a dance as soon as the deed was done, to see how well the two different species of man behaved themselves. The girls, more intelligent, would probably behave themselves. Lydia giggled at the thought of the guys being less than as smart as they, goofing off at the dance. That was something to look forward to. But what did they call it? Lydia shuttered, and focused more on brush sizes than the dance once she remembered. Home coming.

Man, that was going to be one heck of a party. Every one would be either semi-formal or Cinderella once they arrived, and Lydia didn't plan on being either. Just for the hell of it, she might attend the place wearing a Halloween costume, like a vampire's attire, like a gothic looking dress and such. Or maybe she might attend looking like Elvira. Black lipstick, dark eyeliner all the way around the eyes, drop dead sexy, gothic gown. Oh, how she awaited the moment. This school year was going to be fun.

Lydia had a small basket at her side, filled with the ingredients Barb had asked for; Milk and eggs. Now she was eyeing the brushes, still not knowing how small Adam wanted his brush to be. She decided to go with a round brush, size Zero, since that was his usual request when they became too bristle-y for him to use. Content with her picks, Lydia scurried over to the register and held out a ten dollar bill. "Good morning, ma'am," the old man at the cash register smiled. Lydia smiled back, though shyly, since she wasn't used to being addressed so kindly by strangers.

Yes, her school was full of girls, yet none like her. And now that they're putting the boys school with the girls and mixing them up, she wouldn't know if any guy would be like her or if they'd all still be the same. None the less, she was slightly scared of going back to school tomorrow. Okay, _very_ scared. She'd never seen the boy's school, and they worked pretty fast for one weekend to expand the school's properties and tear down the wall between them.

"Have a nice day," the man smiled as Lydia felt the coolness of the change in her palm. She looked down at her hand strangely, and left the store with her bag full of groceries.

Again, the ride home. Lydia pushed faster on the pedals in hopes to get home quicker. Where was the ring? It had never reappeared on her finger. Why was that so? Lydia shook her head at the question and grit her teeth together against the cold harsh wind. Damn, it was cold.

* * *

Interesting… so it seems that the closer he is to her, the ring doesn't just reappear where she spends most of her time, but on her hand. Beetlejuice watched her leave, and smirked when she had said, "Stop sending this damn thing to me."

"I would if I could, babes," he chuckled softly after she had left. For that time, he had spent sitting there, watching through her mirror, waiting for her to come back. She would, wouldn't she? He was sure of it.

What stunned him was that after Lydia had denied him at the hospital, and he had tried to visit her back when she was at home, they were gone. The whole house; empty. But now, it's full again, Lydia's room being in the same room as it was before. How convenient?

And when he first saw her in years… how the fuck could she not remember his name?! What the hell was up with that?! Beetlejuice swore that the next time he saw her, he'd…

Finally, Lydia was back. Beetlejuice had seriously considered going downstairs and eavesdropping the conversations between that wretched girl and the ghosts, which took him from his thoughts of their reunion. He gritted his teeth at the sound of their voices, and a low growl rumbled deep within his chest cavity. Oh, it was so tempting to go down there and juice the afterlife out of them. _Too_ tempting, really. But alas, that would foil the whole situation; not to mention that he hasn't been called out. Annoyed at that little fact that he can't be let out until' _she_ says his name, Beetlejuice punched the glass of the mirror, but it didn't break.

"Well it's about time," Beetlejuice whispered under his breath as Lydia stepped into the room, and turned around to close the door.

Lydia sighed, her back against the door as it was closed and a smile played her small lips. Alone at last, maybe she could sleep in a little longer. "Oh, what the fuck," she stomped a foot as she looked down at her hand and the ring was on her finger. Beetlejuice snickered.

She looked up sharply and saw him laughing in her mirror, and growled. "What the _hell_ are you doing here?! Get the fuck out of my room," she yelled, though not loud enough for it to get past the door, and jerked the ring off her finger. "And take this damn thing with you!" She threw the ring at the mirror, but only to have it smack against the glass and roll off the vanity, onto the floor. Beetlejuice stopped laughing and looked at her, "So, where did you vacation to, Babes?" he smiled devishly, one arm rested on the frame of the mirror as he rubbed his dirty nails on his jacket, and then looking at them with his eyes relaxed in a manner that he didn't give a shit about what she replied with. "Vacationed? What the hell are you talking about?"

How could she just forget?! Was he that forgettable? Dropping the subject, Beetlejuice pulled the papers within the view of the mirror, "Down to business, babes."

"I'm _not_ marrying you," she said finally through gritted teeth. "Don't have to," Beetlejuice replied, giving her a glare that was just as final as her statement, "Just sign these papers, and you're free to go. No longer will you be my fiancé."

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, I'm just sick of ya," he shrugged, and looked at her with a strait face this time. Lydia seriously considered this. "Tell me why you want my signature for _that_," she said, motioning to the papers. Beetlejuice sagged his shoulders and sighed in frustration, "Because if I stay as your fiancé, then you're the only one with the ability to let me out. Not to mention that the ring that's now, on your finger, _again_, won't go away until' it's official that you and me are no more."

"Tempting," Lydia mused, her eyes still glaring at him, no matter how un-angry he seemed at the moment. "And how do I know I can trust you?"

"Lyds, do you really think I wanna be stuck in here forever with only one person able to call me? And do you _really_ wanna be stuck with that ring for the rest of your life? Because if you keep that ring you are unable to date or marry anyone else, it's against the laws for those in the same boat as us," he said, getting frustrated. "Fine," Lydia finally agreed. She sat there in silence, watching him awkwardly. "Well?" she asked, expecting him to hand over the papers.

"Uh, you gotta call me out, babes," he said, pressing his hand to the glass of the mirror. Lydia shook her head. "No."

"Babes."

"No!"

"It's not like I'm telling you to smoke some damn pot, don't fucking say no if you want to rid of me forever! Unless you like me being around," he challenged. "Fine, but you promise me that you won't do something stupid!" she said, and then hesitated. Should she do this? She could always say no. Lydia had never really been one to back out, though, and she surely wasn't backing out of this. _Just call him out, sign the papers, and send him back,_ she thought to herself.

Beetlejuice growled. Why won't she make up her mind? Lydia gripped chunks of hair in stress and bared her teeth in a snarl. What the hell! She couldn't decide! She wanted to say no, but her mouth was saying yes instead. Why wasn't she listening to herself?! He must be cursing her, she finally figured. Thinking that he was making her say yes. Beetlejuice watched her in amusement, finding this entertaining. "Don't have all day," he said, ready to threat again until' it all came out at once. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" her mouth spat the words out, and then she froze. Had she really just done that? Standing there in place, feeling like she was able to control herself once more, Lydia glared at the mirror. But he wasn't there anymore.

"Got a pen?" a hoarse voice asked, and Lydia spun around to find herself face to face with her soon to be '_ex'_ fiancé. She tried to snatch the papers, but he pulled them higher over her head, and out of her reach. Growling, she looked back at his gaze, and his eyes were hard as stone, glaring at her, hating every detail of her. Like he was trying to memorize her face or something! "Take a picture, it'll last longer," she spat, pulling away and reaching for the papers, but he only pulled them higher and more out of her reach.

"A promise is a promise," he growled. Using the papers to get out as an excuse should have been obvious to this bitch if she really seemed as clever as she did, and Lydia felt like such a dumb ass. She should have known better… wait. She _did_ know better! She tried to say no but he made her say yes! "Do you wanna let me sign these damn papers? Then you can go try to marry someone else."

If anything has actually extended over these years, it's her fucking mouth. Beetlejuice was starting to get pissed, and grinded his teeth slightly. "Not just that fucking promise! What about the other one?!"

"What other one?" Lydia's face became strait now, growing confused, and she backed away now. "What the hell do you mean '_what other one_?'!" he stomped in fury, and Lydia was thrown back and into the headboard of her bed. "Think back, you little bitch! Think _way_ back!"

"I can't!" Lydia's voice broke as she screamed back at him. Beetlejuice growled, and decided it best not to repeat himself. "Why not?!" he demanded, and Lydia pressed her back to the headboard and inhaled a deep breath, closing her eyes, and leaned her head back against the board. Tears slightly pushed past him. "You must think of me as such a dumb ass," she laughed slightly, letting the tears soak her cheeks and blacken her eyes. "But then, what the fuck do I care? I can't remember, you ass hole!" she yelled, snapping her head upright again.

Beetlejuice grunted, bitch was nuts! "Give me the papers," she demanded, holding a hand out and slightly easing off the bed before wincing in pain and falling back onto the mattress. He watched her, though wasn't going to drop his glare and show that he was concerned for a minute, no matter how much he missed the girl, he wasn't backing down to her. "Not until' you tell me why you bailed out on me."

"That should have been obvious! You wrecked half of our house, almost killed my father, smashed people through our roof, and not to mention that I'm not _old enough_!"

True. All of that was true. But that wasn't what he was talking about. "I don't mean about at the wedding! I mean when you just ditched me. Stopped calling, left me to rot for the rest of my afterlife! I mean when you _left_."

Lydia was silent. When was she ever there? Before she could open her mouth to question him again, the door creaked open. "Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!" Barbara's voice yelled into Lydia's room, and to much relief, the cause of all the tension was gone. Barb rushed across the room and immediately pulled Lydia into a tight embrace, while Lydia let out all her frustration into Barb's shoulder.

"It's okay, now!" she cooed, "You're fine. He's gone!" Though, this didn't stop Lydia's crying right away, the fact that he was gone did help her a little bit. Lydia sniffled, and loosened her grip on her foster mother, she could be called, and shivered at the cold feeling gripping the ghost left her with. "What was he doing here? Why did you call him out?" Barbara asked, though not using angered force to get the answers she needed.

Through scared breaths, Lydia tried to answer best she could, "I don't know… he told me he'd go away forever if he got me to sign these papers. And I wanted to say no, but I think he controlled me and made me say yes." She honestly didn't know what he was up to, and didn't know how he could have controlled her in the first place. And he didn't! But she still didn't know that.

Barbara hugged Lydia again, pulling her gently into the embrace as she sighed and rubbed her back. "Oh, honey, I should have came up here sooner…"

"It's fine, Barb," Lydia sighed, finally done with her scared crying session and pulled away from the embrace again. "Everything okay in here? I was wondering what all the racket was," Adam said as he leaned into the room from the hallway. Barbara looked up and both of the girls smiled, "Everything is fine," she said, and left Lydia's side to go give her husband a kiss on the cheek. And to whisper in his ear that they needed to talk later…

"Lydia, honey, why don't you come downstairs for some hot cocoa?"

After being hugged by ghosts, no matter how much she loved the cold feeling it left, hot cocoa sounded nice. "With marshmallows?" she asked, somewhat feeling better.

Mentally, she noted to herself that she was never going to call him back ever again, no matter what the circumstance.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, I think the boring part of the story is over now... I just wanted to get what all happened between the time Lydia had woken up in the hospital to the present timing of the story in. And to also get in a few things that's currently happening with her and the town, call it foreshadowing, if you might, but it doesn't really lead to anything... yet... Anyways, sorry for the late update again! I lost computer privilages for a day and then internet the next, so I havent been able to work on this anywhere I went, which sucked. But, alas, now that we're caught up with Lydia's life in this chapter, I'll be happy to announce that the amusing, entertaining, and heart throbbing events will begin! You'll just never expect when. :)


	6. Liar

Lydia took in a deep breath as she stood before her 'refined' school, well enough away that she could see all the changes made. Yes, the walls were tore down, and a new hall had been added with brand new lockers that connected the two once separated schools. And they did this all in a three day weekend? That was pretty fast. Yet, this isn't the first time she's stepped into her school, she just liked admiring the changes. It had been mere weeks past since the poltergeist had shown up again, and tricked her into letting him out. But he's gone now, and she was never going to call him back again. Lydia told herself time and time again that she was not scared-nor traumatized by him at all-and eventually, with no sign of him, was convinced of her comforting chants.

Stepping through the doorway, into her activities for the day, Lydia scurried down the hallways and avoided the wild boys when they did something crazy. Being in a school full of boys and girls was actually no different than the one she had before. No one was like her, not even in the boys school_. _And here she was hoping someone would have at least similar interests. It would be nice, not that she minded being alone, she just didn't get why she was the only one who knew that bright pink, lip gloss, and blonde hair wasn't what made someone truly beautiful.

Swerving left and right, even playing the sound of screeching tires in her head to add to her movements as she struggled through the halls, now doubled with kids, Lydia found the door to her classroom and entered it. She leaned her back to the door and sighed with relief when she was safe from the halls.

Miss Shannon looked up from her desk to find the girl leaning on her door, breathing heavily, yet smiling. She cocked an eyebrow at the child, and watched as she took her seat near the middle of the room and started getting herself prepared to learn before the bell rang. Girl had no friends? When had she been sitting alone? Ah, yes, right, the accident. She was informed the minute before they left.

The old woman wrinkled her nose slightly at the memory, remembering how times were easy for them back then, too, when it came to money. Who knew that in such little timing money would become so scarce? It was pure luck that the boy's school had rebuilt their building near theirs just a year before that too. They probably were having the same problem, Miss Shannon didn't know. All she knew was that they were fortunate to have been able to put the schools together and pair up to help save money.

The door opened again, and a young boy walked shyly into the classroom. Tan, dark brown hair, and a drawn face slid silently across the room and near the back going slightly unnoticed. Lydia looked up from her desk and smiled slightly, noticing the boy, but Miss Shannon just drew her nose up higher to notify everyone of her authority. Keeping her nose high, she lifted a paper off of her desk in front of her and only moved her eyes to look down at it and read it, looking at the seating chart and reading the boy's name on the square, about where his desk was located after he placed himself in it. Ramón? Though she should have memorized the paper by now, the older woman just hadn't the mind to pay such attention to the seating arrangements. She was getting better, though, gradually, but not much. It wasn't like her, but she blamed the sudden changes, rather than taking things into her own. It will pass though, she told herself. It will pass.

Lydia sat at her desk, drawing and doodling. Maybe even writing, if she were paying attention to herself. And yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't entertain herself for the time being. She wanted to go home. To not be in school. To just throw her screaming alarm clock across the room and sleep in. Maybe even hide under the covers from Barbara in case if she decides to blind her into consciousness again. But could she do that? No. Lydia wanted to; oh so badly wanted to. But instead, she got up, and went to school. Damn.

"Like, Oh. Em. Gee! Are you serious?" Oh no.

"I am totally serious! It was the most _disgusting_ thing ever!" Oh please god no.

Lydia looked up and snarled at the site as Pretty and Pink entered the room. Though she never minded the little Goth, her voice was still irritating, and Lydia absolutely loathed the sound of it. "I can't believe he would even _try_!" The other blonde beside the revolting one exclaimed, though not as obnoxious. "I know!" It was obvious they were teasing someone, whom had asked them to the upcoming dance. Funny how the bitch had been gloating about the same incident for the past three days… she just won't let him forget. "Claire, you can do way better than that."

"Which is why I'm waiting till the last minute," Claire waved off the comment with a light giggle and proceeded back to her desk in the far corner of the room. If they had to be in a class together, Lydia was just thankful they were far apart. Especially since the blonde eyed her now and again. Very strange. Back to her drawing! Lydia steadied her pencil and darkened a few lines while erasing others. When finished, she blew off the eraser shavings left on the paper and leaned back to eye her own piece of work. Really she was her own worst critic, for Adam and Barbara seemed to love her art more than she did. Charles was just too busy trying to make things up to Maxi Dean, and Delia was… well… always in La La Land.

Lydia scowled. She didn't like her work. Not this one, anyway. She closed the notebook with one quick movement and rested her head on her desk, letting out a heavy sigh even as she did so. But that sigh grew to a dreaded groan, as the bell for school to begin rang loud in her ears.

* * *

School. Damn, how he hated it. Beetlejuice sat back in the first chair he saw as soon as he re-entered the roadhouse. Surely he would have a talk with Juno soon, and if not, she must have done something to get him off the hook this time. Wouldn't be the first time she's done such a thing. Beetlejuice sighed, and his brow furrowed in thought as he rested his head on his fist in the chair, leaning to the side and crossing his legs in that awkward way he would. Anger, rage, the only two emotions that have filled him for the past few years, and then seeing _her_ again made him just frustrated. No longer angry, because he didn't know who to be angry _at_. Fury would be a better definition, but he just didn't know anymore.

"I can't bel_ieve_ zis!"

"Beetlejuice!!"

What now? Beetlejuice released a low growl from his chest cavity as Ginger and Jacques entered the room, both faces twisted in anger. "A fine? For _two thousand_ dollars?!" Ginger yelled, throwing her two front legs for enthusiasm out towards the poltergeist. "That's more than what I make a week from dancing!"

"And what I make from ze gym!" Jacques chimed in, throwing the paper down on the floor, it's envelope included. "You went and seen the girl, aven't you?"

"Not to mention harassed her, and threw her across the room! Juno must have gone through hell to at least make us pay a fine, but for that much?! What did you do to the poor thing?"

Beetlejuice didn't move from his position in the chair, but his eyes grew a shade darker as he stared at the two. The meeting of him and Lyds from just a little while ago played again in his head, as he decided to close his eyes and rest them, not giving either of them his attention. "Voo, Beatlejoose, are what the Americans call, an _Asshole_!" Jacques grinded his always visible teeth and picked up the paper, storming out of the room and yelling something in French. Ginger was left, tapping one of her feet and keeping the same furious expression on her face. "I agree with Jacques. You're paying that fine on your own, and we're not helping you with it, Beetlejuice! We're tired of backing you up when you don't do the same for us!"

Again, the poltergeist paid no mind to them, other than the fact that Jacques actually called him an asshole. Big word for Frenchie, he never heard the skeleton call him such. But he guessed there was a first for everything.

After Ginger stood there long enough to huff in that girlie way most angry women did and stormed out of the room, it was then when Beetlejuice opened his eyes again and started to react. Rising from the couch, he kicked over a small coffee table holding a lamp and let the piece of furniture shatter on the floor, walking roughly back to his room. Once there, the first thing he would do was look into the mirror and at Lydia's room. But instead of going there, he decided to take a detour, and aimed for the girl's bathrooms in the school.

First time, he got the men's room, and didn't notice it until' he saw a boy walk into the white bathroom and start unzipping his pants in front of the mirror. Before seeing anything else, he cursed and jumped away from the cursed piece of glass and tried again, this time coming with success. The next bathroom he found himself looking into a girl in a relatively short schoolgirl skirt waltzed in, and entered a stall gracefully. Damn, if only he could see through them things. Then again, who'd want to watch a girl take a shit? Scowling at the idea, he waited patiently.

The door of the bathroom opened again, and this time a relatively familiar girl walked in. Lydia.

Lydia walked strait to a sink, completely unaware that Beetlejuice was watching her from one of the mirrors, and turned on the water. Beetlejuice ducked out of site to the side of the mirror, but still able to see the scene on the other side of the glass, making sure she wouldn't be able to become aware at all. Lydia splashed water from the sink into her face, rubbing her cheeks and wiping her forehead. This caused a great amount of curiosity to overwhelm him, and he leaned forward a little, caught up in watching the girl.

After wiping her cheeks, Lydia splashed her face again, and looked down into the bowl of the sink. Both hands gripped either side to support herself, and she didn't bother to wipe up the water and rub it in this time. She heaved a sigh, and wanted so badly to just stand in the bathroom for the rest of the day and hit her head against the wall until' she got her mind sorted.

"Look at yourself, Lydia," she said out loud to herself. "You're letting your mind wonder. He didn't mean anything by that."

"Talking to yourself again, _Lydia_?" So much venom when the light voice said her name. Lydia hoped so much that her mind was playing tricks on her, but fate was too cruel. The same girl from moments before emerged from the stall, and started for the first sink she could find. "I guess I shouldn't blame you for talking to yourself. I mean, I'd talk to myself too, if I couldn't find any friends."

Lydia grinded her teeth, and then relaxed immediately after Claire had done her worst. "That little geek ask you to the dance too? I would expect better of him, for one, asking me, which I'm too much for the little nerd. And for asking you too," she laughed before continuing, "he can do _way_ better. Like, maybe he should take a rock!"

Again, Lydia held her tongue and just stood there wiping her face with the sleeve of her school shirt, as Claire washed her hand and smiled at her own jokes. "Funny," Lydia said, "And here I heard your little friend say the same about you when he asked her too." Lies. All of it was lies. But a Super Blonde such as Claire would believe anything if it involved her silly little clique.

Claire's eyes shot at Lydia in a sudden glare of rage. "What?"

"Sure. Overheard them yesterday while you were absent. Walking by, and heard one of 'em say the same thing." Lydia laughed behind her lie, though kept a strait face to make it believable. Claire's face changed an interesting shade of red under her tan skin, and she clicked her heels quickly to the door, and slammed it open.

After she was gone, did Lydia snicker to herself and exit as well, deciding that she had done enough talking to herself for one day.

And all the while, Beetlejuice just stood there, staring into the mirror in a bit of awe. "That was _Claire_?" he thought to himself out loud. She'd grown up… a lot. Beetlejuice picked up his jaw that had hung open and straitened himself up, going over the events in his mind. "Lyds…" he sighed, smiling slightly. He knew she was lying from the minute she started to retort to Claire with her small fib. He just didn't know how much he had rubbed off on her.

* * *

Lydia hopped on her bike and headed home again, head hung low to dodge the cold wind. But that didn't help one damn bit. Nor did the thoughts rushing in her head.

Why in hell would she remind herself of a few weeks ago? What was so appealing about the stupid ghost coming back for revenge? Was it what he did to her? Was it what he said? It had to be _something_. Or was it just the meaning. Maybe it was because of how damn sure of herself she felt when he was around.

"_I don't mean about at the wedding! I mean when you just ditched me. Stopped calling, left me to rot for the rest of my afterlife! I mean when you _left_."_

When she left… Lydia never knew she left. All she knew was that she wasn't able to get married just then. Not to mention that she was just desperate for help! She would have promised him her virginity just to keep the Maitlands alive, but she didn't want it _right after_. She didn't want it at all! But he had a point; a promise was a promise. And when he said that she had left…

Lydia stopped her bike and sat in the middle of the empty road winding through the woods towards her own house and knotted her fingers in her hair, "Why do you have to be so confusing?! So difficult?! What the fuck?!" she yelled into the sky, and only received the screaming reply of a few birds startled from her anger. Lydia breathed heavily, watching her breath stretch out before her in long lengths when she exhaled, before regaining her control again and continuing home.

For the rest of the ride there she would force her mind to think of nothing else but what lie ahead. What dinner would be. What photos need developed. When the hell her own freakin' parents would start paying more attention to her. And last, but not least, the kind of shit Claire would give her after she finds out that she lied herself out of another one tomorrow.

"Lydia, hon, welcome home!" Barbara cheered. She was always the first one to greet her, but it never ceased to make Lydia smile. So in response, Lydia closed the door behind her and gave the woman the warmest hug she could muster out from all of her stress. "Hi, Barb! What's for dinner?" she asked. Barbara smiled and leaded Lydia towards the kitchen, "I don't know. Adam volunteered to cook tonight," she said as Lydia laughed at Adam, whom was at the stove wearing the pink, motherly apron. "It's rare that he does that."

"I wonder why," Lydia smiled, walking over and peering into the pot with curious eyes. Adam snapped at her slightly, attempting to fright her, but nothing seemed to scare the girl, so he didn't even know why he tried. "Whatcha makin'?" she asked, unmoving and unruffled in any way in response to Adam's attempt to startle her. Adam smiled and snickered, taking the response as if he had succeeded and looked back down into the pot where she was staring. "Secret," he said simply. "You'll just have to find out."

"So I'm not going to know if it's edible or not?" she teased. "I mean, the most some men can make is Mac and Cheese."

"Well, it's not that," Adam said, rolling his eyes with a smile and continuing with his dinner. "You'll like it."

Isn't that Delia's line? Lydia thought about saying that, but decided she had teased him enough and just agreed with a flash of teeth. "Well, I'm going to head upstairs to grab some film that needs developing," she said, and turned from the stove and started toward the stairs. "Call for me when dinner's ready!" she called back over her shoulder and left Adam and Barbara in the kitchen.

Adam chuckled, setting the spoon down at the side of the pot and carrying it over to the sink. "Smart ass," he muttered under his breath, as if Lydia were still there, though he was still chuckling. Barbara smiled, knowing he didn't really mean it. "It's just her way of showing love, Adam, you know she was kidding," she laughed, replaying the discussion in her head. "I know," he smiled, and poured the pot out, catching all of it's contents of noodles and a few other spices in the strainer so they wouldn't go down the drain along with the water.

* * *

**A/N:** This took a while! Sorry guys, homecoming threw me off. I feel so bad, I'm updating so slow with this one, but either way, it _will_ get finished. And how Ginger and Jacques reacted about Lydia? I know made them a little careless, I got that question a few times when I had my friend review it with me when she came over, so that part will be explained in later chapters. For now, I think I really didn't do so well. Who knows? Idk, tell me what you think! :)


	7. Shooting

A gunshot, that of a pistol, Beetlejuice was sure when he heard the sound echo down the hallways and into the bathroom through the crack under the door. He had been watching Lydia run in and eat her lunch in a stall with mild amusement, but then became slightly concerned when Claire had entered too, knowing what she was there for. It made him almost cackle and blow his cover when Lydia crawled under stalls and appear in one Claire had already checked, but then found herself cornered. Served her right. Yet it killed him to see that Claire was, yet again, still a total air head to notice Lydia moving for her escape.

As appetizing the young blonde now looked, it absolutely floored him how uninterested he seemed in her. He tossed her aside like he would a married woman; most likely because he knew her more than his precious Lyds. You know what they say, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Which is why he absolutely loved messing with the girl. But now Lydia was his enemy, and he had to spy on her as much as he could, or so he thought.

The boom of a gun caught up again, and then rapid fire took up. School shootings; always interesting to watch; which was why Beetlejuice had stared more intently on the mirror. A grin slopped on his face, excited to see what happened next, before realizing that_ his Lyds_ was in that shooting, and then his face suddenly fell.

_Damn_, he thought, _and here things were starting to get good!_

Lydia and Claire had froze in place, one crouched back with her arms covering her face, while the other was poised, right hand high in the air and ready to hit the one in defense. Both girls slid only slightly from their positions, staring at the door. Lydia knew they were in trouble, she just didn't know what kind. "What was that?"

"Fuck if I know," Lydia answered Claire quietly. The sound of something like rapid fire was slightly closer. "I think we need to hide, though," she murmured. "From what? What could that like, possibly be?"

The sound was closer now. Lydia opened her mouth to shout something at Claire for being so thick headed, when her mind started to ache. Like someone was entering her mind with razor sharp claws. She muffled her gasp in pain, and arched her back down, gripping her head as if that would protect her mind. _Call me out, babes, you're in trouble._

"Bee-" Lydia stopped herself from saying his full name, and shot up in realization. "What are you doing?! Stop all of this right now!"

"What?" Claire turned to look at her, clearly confused.

_Babes, it's not me. Call me out!_

"NO!" Lydia protested, and as she did so, the door flung open. Ramón stood there, shaky handed and holding a large gun in his hands. Lydia, nor Beetlejuice for that matter, knew what kind it was, and Claire's thoughts were empty with fear to even notice the damage it could do. Both girls gasped in surprise, still only slightly in their stances to fight. "Please, don't…" Lydia murmured, throwing her hands in the air. Then again… wasn't this what she wanted in the first place? A chance to die? But… what would she be dying for? She has Adam and Barbara. Her parents… well… her dad mostly. And dieing would also just get her closer to _him_ again.

"Ramón," Lydia said steadily, and holding out a hand slightly and easing down ward, signaling for him to lower the gun from it's threatening position. Hopefully she said his name right, saying as though she only knew him in some of her classes. "Please," she tried to speak again, but her voice was starting to break.

* * *

Charles sat in his office, chair leaned back and feet on his desk. He turned the page of his book. Picked up a pen, wrote something down on a sticky note to remind himself of anything that came to mind, and set the pen back down. Every second felt like a million years, and it only made it more irritating that every million years was being counted off with an annoying click every second.

Eventually he got bored of reading the pages of his bird watching book. And in doing so, Charles had grown into just staring down at the black lettered words, watching them mock him. Either he was relaxing too much, or Charles Deetz was _actually _fucking bored.

Eyes half closed and attention span shortened greatly, he skimmed over his stressful mind for something to do that's both relaxing, and entertaining. And as a result of years of trying to just relax and break away from all of the stress and tensions of losing his wife and fear of losing his sweet little Lydia, he failed miserably. And it was then when he had finally decided; being bored sucks.

When Lydia was thirteen he was never really _bored_, just felt a little left out. Delia was all _sing-song _then, and in her own little realm sculpting something. And his precious daughter was usually in her room, taking photos of bugs for either a project or some sort of convention. And when he was left alone, Charles was either left with watching a baseball game that had been rained out, so some gushy soap opera.

Creases in his forehead appeared as he frowned deeply, remembering the days. That's all he could do now, was remember. Delia, now old and grumpy because she couldn't change Lydia, use to be so everywhere and alive. And not a bitch. But he loved her anyway. Nothing would change that. And Percy…

Yeah, Percy was Lydia's cat, but he seemed to be a little more attached to Charles rather than his favorite little girl. Before bed the cat would always have to be brought into their room to sleep or he'd throw a fit in the middle of the night. And when Delia had her _little doggie-woggie_, he'd only hang around Charles then too. What killed him was that when they had to flea from Peaceful Pines, there were no apartments that allowed pets that they could afford in New York. And without Lydia seeing him barely ever, being too focused on trying to catch up with her own forgotten life, she never noticed when Percy had been adopted by another family. And now, if you went to the pet cemetery in some small town in New Jersey, you'd find his head stone. _Rest In Peace, Percy Davis._

Poor Percy. Easily forgotten by his favorite little girl, and easily remembered by the man whom had gotten rid of him. Spite the fact that they had no other choice, the last look Charles had seen from the cat was a plead to call the deal off. Something told him the little fur ball didn't like the Davis's.

The phone on his desk rang and Charles jumped, startled. It was too quiet and relaxing the moment before, but that's what the countryside did to him. Relax him. Picking up his book and setting it on the desk, Charles looked at the phone with his lips pursed into a strait line. The only person he could think of calling him at the moment was Maxi Dean. And right now Maxi Dean wanted nothing to do of the man and his possessed house. He was tempted to just let it ring. But Charles knew better, that answering phone calls was always polite. With a grudge already forming against whoever was calling him, picked the phone off of the receiver and held it to his ear. The more he listened, the more uneven his heartbeats became. And after setting the phone back down he leaned back into his chair calmly and took in a deep breath.

Poor girl never really could keep herself out of trouble could she?

"DELIA!!!"

* * *

Ramón stood there in the doorway to the girl's bathroom. His plan was short, simple, and easy to remember. Find Claire Brewster. Kill anyone who interfered who helped with the rumors she started. He liked Claire. Became in love with her figure. Who she was, he apparently didn't know. There was only one person in the world, he figured, that could leave a little eleven-year-old boy with a messed up mind and a sudden psychopathic look on life.

Beetleman…

His upper lip twitched at the thought. He was so cool! He was Ramón's world! Beetleman, to him, was the best person on Earth. His role model in life. He wanted to be _just like him_. Though doing so only got him in trouble, and when he thought he could go back to the way he use to be-with few changes-before meeting the magician. Unfortunately some time after he couldn't hold himself anymore. He still wanted to be just like Beetleman. He wanted to be cool.

Supposedly, the Deetz family that he worked for moved away, and Beetleman was no longer seen hanging around. So it could get worse. Ramón had been through several therapists, taken medication, everything, but his parents couldn't calm the boy down. And then, almost as if he were only being possessed for a set amount of time, suddenly stopped all completely.

He was quiet. Very quiet. _Too_ quiet, now. Never talked in class, never noticed by anyone now. Just a shadow walking along. Those who were aware of his being, were the only ones who seemed to have notice of him. Claire was a good example of one of those few. He asked her, she said no, and began to say shit. Lies, rumors, every teenager knows that drill. It's like the fucking telephone game; you hear it, you pass it on. And everyone knows that the more it gets passed on, the more it changes. He had somehow broken the record for the most kid in school to have rumors said about him. What a fucking honor.

The _cool_ kids seemed to have enjoyed this more. They liked how everything they say spreads faster than STDs. But just like any other person who starts shit, they were the infections, and Ramón sought to it that they should be taken care of. Something in him snapped, and he just didn't feel like himself anymore. He felt like a maniac.

When he had kicked the door open to the girl's bathroom, he had a feeling she was in there. And that feeling was right. Two girls, one with black hair, and the other blonde, getting ready to fight. A crooked smile slightly shown on his features when he named the two girls. Lydia; Mr. Beetleman's companion. The one he first spotted him with. She was fun too, just not as much as his role model in life. The gun pointed in their general direction, he hadn't decided who to kill yet first.

"Ramón," a shaky inhale from _Lydia_ had escaped her lungs, "Please," her hand stretched out and her voice broke as she bit back tears. She didn't wanna die. Not because of Claire, anyway. But the boy didn't speak. Instead, he pointed the gun more near her now.

_Babes_, his voice chimed impatiently, _you wanna die now?_

"No," she murmured, honest to god. Not now. She realized it. Yeah, she wanted it earlier, but actually going through with it was the scary part. And she wasn't up for it.

_Then let me out._

"I'll pick you first," Ramón said silently, and Claire held back a gasp. She was going to _watch_ someone die. She didn't mind waiting, hell, she'd wait forever for this! But watching people die, to her, was dis_gusting_! She'd be scarred for life. Which is probably why he was doing it.

"Please, don't! Ramón, you have so much you can do with your life, don't spend it regretting all of this!"

"I already will," he grimaced, and Lydia had recalled that he's probably killed a few other people by this point.

"What will you get out of making it worse?" she asked, stalling as much as she can. He figured she'd do as much, and realized it sooner than he would have when the faint sound of police sirens had started to play. "I can kill you right now and get this over with," he avoided her question with a shaky one of his own. His hands gripped the gun tighter, and he was so tempted to cut her off. But Claire's voice was interesting enough at the moment for him to be generous, and at least let them finish. "Why are you doing this?!" A squeak; an annoying one. Claire's squeak. His heart skipped a beat at the sound, the feeling of both trickling pleasure and pain placed in his veins in the short moment it stopped, and then suddenly an uncomforting feeling followed. Along with the feeling of a gaping hole forming in his chest, like acid was ripping him up. The feeling of wanting to drop at your knees, or disappear, but then you want to stay at least and watch what happened next.

"You really think saying shit about people makes it feel better?" he asked. "You think that I'll go away or take back asking someone out if they go around and tell lies? Because that really doesn't fucking help. Instead, it feels like shit. And you don't care, because it fucking fuels you!" He snapped, and pulled the gun from Lydia and held it closer to her head. "I can show you what it feels like to be turned down by someone like that," the nose of the gun lowered toward her heart. "Because you never really know the feeling of pain until' you've had heartache."

"It's not the end of the world, though!" Lydia fought for his attention, trying to do something good, even for someone who treated her like shit. Hell, both girls should be begging him to kill the other and then jump for joy for killing whoever he picks. But neither have pointed a finger towards the other. Not yet, anyways.

Ramón kept the gun in place, keeping the threat at Claire's heart unmoving, but turned his head to look at the apparently braver of the two. Claire's back pressed against the wall, all she could do was gasp when he looked away briefly at the Goth girl. "You think so, huh?"

"I've had lots of heartaches, Ramón. You can't say that this is the punishment! I've been turned down plenty of times," from what she can remember, "and I didn't go around shooting people." She kept her voice calm, and low. Lydia had tried her best at this point to be soothing, but seeing his features harden, she knew that she had really pissed him off. "Don't you dare tell me different! This isn't about just being turned down! It's about something more than that!"

And somehow, both girl's got the message. Now the world knew, that Ramón really did love Claire Brewster. Lydia wanted to run into a stall for a brief second and puke all she had in her stomach. "I think I'm gonna be sick," she murmured, low enough for only her to hear.

_I second that. _

Okay, _mostly_ only her. Claire stopped breathing, and she was sure for a second that she was dreaming. But, then again, the fear only made it much more realistic until' she was completely unsure of what's going on.

Lydia bent over again, this time her own nails digging into her head as she gripped it and tried to muffle the pain blossoming within the center of her brain. _Let me out! You're going to die! _

"No!" she refused.

_Lydia Deetz, let me out this instant!_

"You'll make things worse!"

Ramón and Claire both stared at her strangely. Had either of them addressed her with a question that matches the answer? Both were unsure, but yet, the tension of the room never disappeared. "Shut the hell up!" Ramón yelled, getting tired of her random screams of pain and insults.

Lydia slightly fell over, and caught herself against the sink while she gripped her head, breathing heavily. _I won't make things worse! Trust me, Lyds, you're in deep shit!_

"I know that, you fucking ass hole! Leave me the hell alone, you will too make it worse! What the hell do you want from me!?" this time it was a cry, and she couldn't stand it. Tears leaked from her eyes. Ramón was sick, of her screaming, and of her yelling. He immediately pulled the gun from Claire and pointed it at Lydia. "Shut up! Shut up right now, or I'll fucking kill you!"

* * *

Beetlejuice snarled. "_Babes!" _he yelled. She was so fucking stubborn! Why was she so? It pissed him off that she's about to get shot, and she won't even let him fucking help her! He should trust her with this at least! He wasn't going to let her _die_!

"There, that's better," Ramón said, pulling the gun from her. Damn. All he could do was watch from a fucking mirror. Fuck this shit! "Let me out!" he yelled again. Lydia just stood there dumbfounded. Had she not known that everyone around her could hear her screaming at him? If not, she had really lost it. Beetlejuice sneered at the glass before him, growling insults in his mind of what he'd do to Ramón once he finally shoots himself after finishing off Claire.

"You wouldn't," Lydia dared him, oh god she was so damn stupid. What was she thinking?! Beetlejuice, about ready to pound the glass, forced himself not to yell into the mirror again. "You don't think I will?" Ramón asked, and pulled the trigger, purposely just barely missing her and shooting the sink she was leaning on off the wall, and letting it shatter on the floor at her feet. Lydia gulped, and looked back up at him. He raised the gun back up to her, and felt that sudden surge of power rush through him. The want of taking her life and getting all of this over with flooded him and he pulled the trigger, this time not meaning to miss. Lydia gasped out loud and winced, only to watch nothing happen. Beetlejuice sighed with relief, and tons of it. He was out of ammo. "Oh thank god," he sighed.

Ramón cursed, that was his father's last pack. Throwing the two-handed gun to the ground, he pulled a pistol from his uniform pocket and pointed it to her again. Lydia whimpered. She was sure to be hit this time. Bracing herself, she had a feeling that if she did die, at least he'd be out until' someone put him back, and away from her. "Beetlejuice…" she murmured, and Ramón cocked the gun before pointing it back to her. "Beetlejuice…" and here, both hesitated in silence. "Any last words?" he asked, and Beetlejuice prayed she'd say it one more time. "Come on, babes…"

Lydia looked him in the eyes, took a deep breath, and parted her lips. "Beetlejuice." And as soon as she finished the second syllable, the gun was fired.

* * *

**A/N:** Bah! I feel so evil for the very last part! And for cutting off so early! But in all honesty, I figured this would be the best part for me to cut off, since it does so well on it's own in my opinion. ^-^ The new updates on the site actually gave me some confusion, and I kind of had a harder time updating, lol! And ever since like, last wednsday, life has been going downhill so I apologize for the late update!!! I hope you'll forgive me! ... again! ... Oh, and those of you who might not have seen the episode, Ramón is a character only seen in one of the episodes, where he decides he wants to be just like Beetleman. Kind of hard for me to explain at the moment, but I didn't know if I've been spelling it right. xD It's just the only way my computer would _let_ me spell it. Kinda pronounced Ramoan but it always comes out as Ramón when I edited it for mistakes. Lol, oh well, hope you liked!

Review please!!! :D


	8. Fuck This

There he stood, finally out and standing over her fragile figure. Blood only trickled out from one side of her, and not in a very large puddle. She was out cold; probably fainted from a combination of shock, fear, and pain. She was only shot in the shoulder for god's sake! Still, it was a close call.

Beetlejuice now looked over across the bathroom at the mess his entrance had made. Two sinks knocked from their hinges and water sprayed never endingly out from the pipes. All of the mirrors were shattered. Water started to flood the floors, little by little going down the drain near the center of the room.

"Shit, babes," he muttered. It was all he could say. All he had to say. The faint whine of police sirens stayed near the front of the school. He snickered. Three weeks into a brand new school and there's already a shooting. Board's not gonna be to happy 'bout this.

The door was kicked open, and he just stood there, already transparent to the breathers in blue. Two policemen rushed in with their guns at the ready, already in awe of the wrecked bathroom. Beetlejuice passed them a glance, knowing they couldn't see, nor hear him, he just smiled. More of a threatening smile, as it came naturally that he wanted no one to touch what was his. And it was obvious he would risk himself being exorcised the minute he steps back into Juno's office if they were to touch Lydia. But then, they needed to at least give her medical attention. Without that, she'd die. What did he care? It'd be good payback, but after a minute he also realized that if during the medical attention he could take the chance to climb into her mind, and snip his name from her memory, he'd be free to torture her to his liking.

"Of course," one of the officers mumbled, "Some kid who got into his Dad's gun rack."

"Knock it off, Robby, kids who do this don't have a very good home life."

"Either that or the little brat just wants attention."

"You're an ass."

"And you're a momma's boy. Now do something useful and get the Barbie doll outside, will ya?" Robby asked and put his gun back in the sock, gathering Ramón up off the ground. "I'll handle that," Beetlejuice growled, unable to take anymore and re-entered the bathroom in a plumber's getup. A scowl clear on his face, he growled at either of the two who dared lift a finger against him. "Identify yourself." Robby spat.

"'M the janitor."

"Name?"

"Beetleman."

* * *

Charles clung to Delia as she clung to him, both shivering and tears in their eyes. Though Delia didn't appear to care much for her step-daughter, she still did. But all Charles could really focus on at the moment was if his daughter was alive or not. Yellow tape kept anyone who wasn't in the shooting secluded to the boundaries of the school, and it only pissed Charles off to find that he wasn't allowed past the tape to find his Lydia.

"Oh Charles," Delia sighed, biting back tears way better than she use to before. Charles let out a shaky breath in reply. His daughter was nowhere in sight the first few moments they stood outside the school. Parents and citizens crowded around outside all around them, but past the yellow tape, the school yard was filled with three ambulances, and about five police cars. Various kids were spread out on the front, some lining up for head counting, others having their injuries or scarred minds attended to.

Two police officers walked out one by one; the first one carrying a Blonde, and the other one carrying a dark haired boy. Charles prayed that Lydia was already amongst the children in the front. But as his eyes skimmed for her around the yard, he saw nothing.

And there it was. The only thing in the universe that can cause the old man to shit his pants. Another man, this one just barely recognizable, kicked the door open as it was about to close on him, and stepped out with his little girl in his arms. Delia jerked forward a bit, but couldn't budge Charles, whom was stuck on the spot. He had cold feet and didn't want to take a step. He just wanted to open his eyes, and admit this was a dream.

"Lydia?" Delia whispered, eyes widened at the site. Charles bit back his frightened tears, and in one swift movement, ushered Delia under the red tape, and followed. Both ran towards the girl, looking just barely in that man's arms. Two men from the ambulance had rushed to his side, guiding him to the truck.

As both of her parents rushed towards her, two police men blocked them off, Charles trying to fight his way past them. "My daughter! That's my daughter! Get your god damn hands off me- let me see my daughter!"

"She'll be fine, they have her in the ambulance no-"

"I don't give a fuck! I want to see my daughter!"

"Sir! Calm down or we'll be forced to arrest you!"

"Charles!" Delia cried, slightly hiding behind him from the police. "Charles, it's best if we wait. I don't want you to get arrested!"

Charles eventually calmed down, though his face was literally beat red. His breathing was heavy now. He just glared at the two officers. They should just arrest him, but Delia pulling him back was enough to tell him that he was digging his nails too deep into something they obviously didn't want him too. But he _needed_ to. For the sake of his sanity. And for his health.

"What?! But I got her here for you!"

That voice…

"So I can't be here for her in case she needs me?"

That _familiar_ voice…

"Who needs you hicks anyway?! Tell ya what, if she dies, I'm gonna shove poisonous snakes up your ass! Got it?"

The figure that had carried Lydia's frail body out of the school only moments before came storming from behind the ambulance. His shoulder-length blonde hair a mess, black and white striped overalls and a purple undershirt. His hand, red at the fingertips, pulled the hat on his head down a little over his eyes to hide the flashing anger within them. He was heading out of the crowd. Was he leaving?

"Mr.… Beetleman?"

The man stopped, a few yards away and almost making his exit while being called upon. He turned his head in their direction, and a toothy grin spread across his face. "Chuck!" he yelled gruffly. "Good to see ya, chum!" Beetleman cackled. He crossed the distance between them with he didn't know how many strides. Beetleman was already at his side, one arm slung around his shoulders. "So uh, been a while hasn't it?" Charles grimaced. Guy didn't age a day! Guess some things don't really change much over three years. He rolled his eyes at the sudden closeness. He didn't change _one bit_. "I thought you would at least get the name right by _now_."

"I did get it right, Chuck," he smiled, but then his face suddenly fell just a moment afterwards. "Hey uh, anyways Chuck-"

"Charles."

"Frank," Beetleman decided, "Anyways, I have some unfinished business I gotta tend to."

"What about Lydia? What's wrong with her?" Delia put her hands on her hips, giving him her best scowl. Charles shuddered.

"Ah, she'll be fine, just fainted."

Charles eased with relief. Beetleman shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and looked back at the ambulance one more time before saying his goodbyes. "Nice to see ya chumps but I really gotta get movin'. If I don't hurry I'm gonna be in trouble. Later!" And then he was gone. Like, literally _gone_ out of site. Just one, two, three steps and then poof! Nowhere in site!

"Charles," Delia's naturally annoyed sounding voice whined, "Is is me or did he sound like that awful ghost from a few months ago?"

His heart skipped a beat. He did, didn't he? Beetleman did sound an awful like that dreaded poltergeist, that bastard who tried to marry Lydia. But some people do sound similar, he'd noticed that many time in his work back in New York. Besides, he didn't really look like the guy!

…Okay, so he couldn't say he didn't. Delia was blinded by her hat most of the time, and Charles was being strapped to her so called _art_. Other than those two moments they were mostly either glaring at Otho for trying to sneak away, or staring in horror as their daughter was pulled away from them.

This was when he actually started to wonder where Otho has been for the past few months…

* * *

Lydia stared horror struck at the gun pointed to her heart. Okay, so daring him to do it didn't end up buying her time at all. Damn movies… she's watched too many of them. She thought she was off the hook when he pulled another gun from his pocket. "Beetlejuice…" she murmured, as soon as she saw it pulled from his coat. Her lips still tingled, though she had said it for the second time just a minute ago. And now, the gun was right in her face, and the young adolescent boy holding it gave her one more breath to take. "Any last words?" Ramón asked, not hesitating one bit, and Claire thought she could take no more. Barely even standing now, she took in a jagged breath, and braced herself.

"Beetlejuice…"

Before the second syllable was even said, just as the gun had fired, all of the mirrors shattered. The shards flying out from their places, Claire falling to the floor, startled to the point where her thick head could take no more, and Ramón falling to her side, knocked out cold. Lydia screamed in pain, her voice drowned out by the sound of the shattering shards, now fading away. She was scared, breathing deep, and now in so much pain it burned the whole left side of her body. The gun had shot her shoulder, right on the ball-in-socket joint, and had pushed the bones from their places.

The pain rushed to her head. She couldn't see. Well, not well, anyways. The pounding of her heart blurred her vision, and each time the thump sounded, her ability to see would flash along with that. She tried to move, screamed again, and she could no longer see. Lydia fell back, and closed her eyes. Like she was falling asleep… a very deep sleep…

Eventually her vision came to, as well did her hearing. Tires, rubbing hard against the ground and their screaming echoing faintly in her memory. It was ear piercing. Brain scratching. She wanted it to stop! But it wouldn't. What she was seeing, was like she wasn't even in her own mind. Like she was seeing perfectly, only without color, and she wasn't controlling her own movements, or talking like she wanted to. But it had to be her! "God damn it!" a voice echoed, fading off bit by bit.

Glass shattering, metal scraping metal, car horns, all of it was the only sound she was hearing now. And then she could feel the pain of whoever's mind she was in.

She was struggling with the seat belt, her fingers slipping with every small movement. Palms sweaty, heart pounding, whoever's point of view she was watching was clearly scared. And then eventually… success! The seat belt budged, and fit over her head and then she tried to buckle it. Wait… those clothes… those clothes look familiar. Faintly familiar…

The blurred vision shot a glance to the front of the car, and Lydia could feel herself gasp inside this girl's mind. Charles! That was her father! Gripping the dashboard and the door, holding on for dear life. And was that Delia's red hair in the driver's seat?

The glance she got of the front didn't last long. The car jerked again, and the girl fell forward. Pain! Fucking Christ, it hurt! The seat belt tugged on her shoulder and sharp pain radiated her body. Just like the pain from the shot. Her shoulder being dislocated. Lydia couldn't help but scream, and scream she did. But her own voice was faint, compared to the screaming voice of the girl who was too in agony.

But then her voice grew faint, as Lydia's voice became louder. Like she was trying to perfect the very definition of crescendo. Finally, her voice was all she could hear now, the pain growing steadily as the scene before her faded into blackness.

She didn't even realize she was laying down before she felt her back arch up in pain, her body fighting the many hands holding her down.

Lydia's eyes snapped open, but she couldn't see! Holy shit! She can't see! She blinked rapidly, only to find that tears were blurring her vision. Blinking away all she could, she relaxed finally, the pain fading away. Just like that… what the hell was that, anyway? A vision? Whatever the hell it was, it didn't matter now.

At first she couldn't really make out what she was seeing, until' she peered a look around. Was she in an ambulance? "It's okay now! We've got her shoulder back in place," a voice said, with a sight of relief. Lydia lifted her head up off the bed for a moment, but then winced and fell back. "Sit still, hon. We still gotta bandage you up," the voice revealed itself to be a woman who was working with the injured kids. "Whoo, that shot he gave you was a doozy. You feelin' all right?" she asked. Lydia shook her head no, and the woman chuckled. "At least you're alive, hon," she nodded. She sort of reminded her of Barbara…

Barbara!!! Adam!!! They must be so worried! Lydia let out a sob as she tried to pull herself together. Her sob turned into a loud cry, which became a scream of pain now as the woman at her side put some sort of tool into her arm and then pulled out the bullet. "Relax now! It's out!" the woman cooed, trying to get Lydia to calm down, and was successful. Lydia slowed her breath down evenly like she was told. "The worst is done now. All we gotta do is put a bandage on ya," she smiled. Lydia let out another long, shaky breath.

* * *

A bandage…. _A bandage_. A is singular, for _one_, Lydia noted silently to herself as she snarled at her reflection. The top half of her torso was completely mummified from just above her belly button, covering her breast, and then wrapped around her shoulder. Either glass was shattered all over her chest and back and she didn't feel it, or this was overdoing it. No matter how silly it even looked, Barbara had refused to let her take it off. "I know it's ridiculous, hon, but I'd feel better if you kept it on. She is the doctor, after all," she tried to smile, tried to make her feel better. But no amount of, "I'm sorry," and "It's what's best," or anything _actually_ comforting would make her think otherwise. Lydia grumbled something unintelligible under her breath and wondered where the good old days went. When parents would bribe their kid to stop whining with ice cream or candy, or something. Maybe even a toy?

No, she wasn't a kid no more, what was she thinking? She was sixteen, and Lydia had to suck it in like an adult. That's what the teenage years were for; learning how to just take shit, and at least try to be the better person without telling them off or at the least, flipping them the bird.

This was stupid! Lydia growled again, trying to hide her anger and refrain from lashing out on one as innocent as Barbara was. So in order to do so, she bit her tongue, drew in a deep breath, and turned to face the ghost, since talking to her through reflection really wouldn't do no good. "Can I just… have a few moments to myself?" Lydia asked, considering taking a shower. So she's going to have to rebuild the bandages every time she takes a shower… what a pain in the ass. She barely feels up to one now, just because of that.

Barbara nodded, "I'll be back in a moment. I really don't want to leave you alone, honey… you know how scared Adam and I are," she sighed. Lydia especially didn't want Adam in here, since she was momentarily shirtless. Regardless the bandages making it impossible to see her top half naked, she still felt awkward.

The ghost woman gave her another hug, nodded, and left the room. Finally alone, Lydia slipped on her nightgown.

"Hey, babes!"

"What the hell?!" Lydia whirled around, now hint of hesitation to see who it was. She already had an idea…

"What in God's name are you doing here?!" She ground her teeth together and clenched her fists. "You called me out," her least favorite ghost snickered, lounging on her bed. "Well I was desperate, and I didn't want to die," Lydia spat, "Now get the hell off my bed!"

"I'd like to see you try and make me, Lyds," he waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'll just send you back!"

"Do it!"

"I will!"

Lydia took a sharp inhale, his name ready to roll off the tip of her tongue as hastily as she could. But when she found herself holding her breath, she couldn't think. What was his name? What the hell?"

"…I will… IF I remember your name!"

"Aw, Lyds, forgot about me already? And I saved your miserable life? I'm so hurt," he chuckled, and kicked off his shoes. "While you're rememberin', why don't you give me a foot massage?"

"Hell no," Lydia winced away from his foot, covered with fungus and- was that a centipede that just crawled between his toes?! "Get your shoes back on!!!"

"You owe me," he growled, "Big time!"

"For what?!" Lydia screamed. The nameless ghost sat up, mouth open to argue, when he froze and looked at the door, then became transparent. "Wha-" Lydia took a breath to yell at him to show his ugly face once more, when the door opened. Damn, perfect timing.

Adam stepped in cautiously. "Lydia is everything okay? I could hear you yelling from the basement!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lydia grumbled. "What were you doing down there anyway?"

"Grabbing a few tools I forgot I had before you turned it into a dark room. I figured I might as well grab them," he shrugged. "You sure you're all right?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine!"

"Then why were you yelling?" he cocked an eyebrow at her. Lydia now started to hesitate, drew in a breath, and let her mind speak itself out for an excuse, "Frustrated…"

"With…?"

Lydia had no words for this. Her mouth hung open and she skimmed harder for an excuse. "…a…. boy?" Adam finished, smiling slightly. Lydia, figuring she wouldn't find a better excuse anyway, decided to just go with that. "Yeah!" she said, nodding, "Something like that…"

Adam chuckled. "Don't tell Barb!" Lydia said quickly. "I'll….I'll tell her myself!"

"All right, all right," he nodded. "It's time for bed, though. Goodnight!"

"'Night, Adam," Lydia smiled, and began to crawl under the covers. She sat in bed for a long moment, waiting for him to reappear and say something absolutely stupid. But after ten minutes had passed, and at the moment ten minutes felt like forever, she decided that he was probably out doing whatever.

She clicked off the lamp on her nightstand and pulled herself deeper under the covers. Half way asleep, and she felt a cool hand run up her thigh. "Knew it," she grumbled. His chuckle followed. "You're a dick," Lydia hissed, calculating where he was behind her and elbowed him in the rib. "Get the fuck out of my bed!" she hissed again, and he didn't listen, again. "Fuck this," Lydia grumbled, "I'm finding somewhere else to sleep tonight." Again, he just laughed.

Lydia fumed and left the room with a pillow.

* * *

**A/N:** Nyahhh!!! Don't hit me! . Okay, I owe you all really really really really really really big!!! I hope I didn't lose any reviewers for this!!! Argh!!! My computer caught a virus and I had to wait a few days while my dad whiped it... I'm sooo sorry! God, I feel so stupid... Anyway, that's all I wanted to really say and get clear that I'm really sorry that you had to wait long agian!!! Forgive me??? Again??? God I'm so pathetic...


	9. One Long Month

**A/N:** Jesus christ, look at me. I put it off for like, ten days. Someone should smack me.

I'm gonna warn you all, it does get pretty flippin' corny, because I just ran out of ideas altogether. My first finals went horrible, christmas was okay, and life still goes on, but I swear to god, I'm not making excuses.

If there's anyone to praise for getting me off my lazy ass it's **WithoutHesitation** and her bat- I mean, **write-more blunt instrument of persuasion**. Literally, I'm scared of it, and you should be too... x.x

So here it is and all of it's horribleness, I WILL do a rewrite if I get around to it, but please enjoy anyway, thank you! ^-^

Oh oh! Yes! I forgets! Please review!!! And here's a moofin for EVERYBODY!!!!! who reviews.

* * *

Lydia can't recall if she had ever slept in the same bed as her parents as a child. Last time she ever did she was probably like, four. Now she was about sixteen, so the age difference for her was pretty sad. But, who wouldn't rather sleep in the same room as your parents when your bed is infected by a perverted dead guy? Seriously.

She opened both eyes now, scanning her surroundings slowly. She had slept between them, just like a child. But the bed was empty, the covers on each side pulled back. They must have gone already. Lydia noted silently to herself that besides the Maitland's, the house was all hers.

Wait… she took that back.

"Babes!!"

Lydia pressed her fingertips hard to her temple, debating on whether she should acknowledge his presence.

She wasn't scared of him. Had no reason to be. Sure, he smacked her to a wall. And sure, he might have even scared the piss out of her before. But he hasn't killed her yet, has he? And death was all she ever wanted, wasn't it?

Lydia knew that, even if she were scared of him, the best bet was to hide it, and ignore him. That's what they said about bullies, anyway. He is a bully… isn't he? Just a dead one, that's capable of sending you to a realm where giant worms eat you instead of whatever else worms eat. Dirt, wasn't it?

It was decided. She's going to ignore him.

"Hey, Lyds, why the quiet?"

Lydia pulled the covers away from her frame and crawled out of the bed, walking out of the room. "Oh, I see, giving me the silent treatment, right?"

She whirled around, mouth open and ready to send to him back with the simple calling of his name. But as far as readying herself to say it went, she couldn't remember his name.

Jesus! First, she loses memory of her childhood, then the memory of his name. This was sad. "What's your name again?"

"Hell if I'll tell ya, babes! But I gotta tell ya, it took me forever to find my name stored in your thoughts. I couldn't even see two inches in front of my face! Too cloudy. Hasn't anyone told you that stress is bad?"

Lydia's mouth gaped open in horror.

So he had been in her thoughts?! While she was passed out?!

"That's fine…" she said, though her face still having the same expression. Her brow finally furrowed, and she closed her eyes. "Maybe Adam or Barb still remembers your na-"

"Whoa, babes! I don't think so! You see, you owe me, still, and until' I get some kind of promise from you-one that you'll keep-I'm not goin' anywhere," he growled into her ear. Lydia whimpered, but her eyes hardened, and she just glared. "You'll get in trouble by Juno," she hissed, "For keeping me prisoner around here."

"Soon, maybe, won't stop me though. I can get out of it, and I'll be right back out here," he smiled. "Ghost with the Most, babes!"

"Great," Lydia grumbled. "I gotta sleep in here again."

Maybe she could tell the Maitland's while he's busy… that's gotta work, anyway.

* * *

"Stop!" she cried, and Beetlejuice just grinned. The door, again, was slammed on his face. "I'm trying to take a shower!"

"So? How can I be so sure that you won't tell the Maitland's in there?"

"Oh my god, you're such a jackass! Why the hell would I be telling them while I'm in the shower?!"

He didn't know how to answer that. Instead, he just sat there, and snickered. This was way better than watching her go to school. In a way, he thanked whatever God for letting there be a shooting. School is probably gonna be out for a month or two, now.

Already being back for five minutes, and he was halfway back to his giddy old self. This isn't right. He became cold, unforgiving, mean, all in the time of three years that felt like a million. No way in hell one little girl can change that in the time of two minutes. No way in hell.

He just missed her, that's all. Beetlejuice grumbled something, suddenly deep thinking about his actions. She left him. Twice. He shouldn't be happy to see her. He should be mad.

Oh but it was just so hard! His best friend!

His fiancé…

He knotted his fingers in his hair, and reentered her bedroom. Teeth grinding. Words uttered or mumbled. Mind racing for a solution.

Wow… this chick did a number on him.

Beetlejuice took a deep, unneeded breath, and decided that he'd ignore it all. Pretend these feelings he was experiencing didn't exist to him. Wipe them from his dictionaries. Whatever it took, just to get him back on task.

And… what the hell? She was in the fucking shower! His fingers itched, the sound of spraying water, just down the hall, playing like music to his ears. She was naked. Wet. And he just walked away from the door like he had no interest.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Beetlejuice slapped himself across the face, already fed up with his own niceness. So what, three years, big whoop, she didn't do this to him before.

Then again, she wasn't sixteen before…

Damn it, Beetlejuice! He growled at himself and began fisting his head. What was he to do? If he thought too much about this he was surely gonna die. Thinking was bad for him. Everyone knew that.

Even she should. But she 'doesn't remember.' What a priceless fucking excuse. She should damn well remember! But then again, three years- ah! He's doing it again! Having second thoughts. Not good. Not good!

He's gonna drive himself insane. _She's_ gonna drive him insane. She isn't even _trying_! Beetlejuice growled, and spun around and froze. If this heart may still be beating, it would have died right there, as he stared at the death of him.

And there she stood, ladies and gentleman. His former best friend standing right before him in a towel. And again his fingers itched for her. To touch her, run through her hair, caress her, _something. _

Lydia stood there a moment, dumbfounded and holding the towel tight around herself. She looked so delicious. Oh, but she'd never know.

He grinned a toothy grin, and could almost hear the shuddering flesh as she disgusted of the appearance. Whatever. She wanted him too. He knew it.

"Um… excuse you?" Lydia asked, though slightly intimidated in her just barely naked state. "Sorry babes," he said casually, floating on top of her bed. "I'm pretty comfortable where I'm at."

Her face became a bright pink. He smiled. She was cute when she was mad. Hell, almost all girls were, but still, Lyds pulled it off quite nicely.

"You're an ass," she simply stated, and walked inside her closet, closing the door on his face when he tried to follow.

Again, he just chuckled.

* * *

Adam sat at the kitchen table, messing with a small house that had fallen out of place on his model. Barbara, on the other hand, stood at the stove, frying pan in one hand, trying to make some scrambled eggs. "Lydia get up this morning, yet?" Adam asked. "Yeah, I heard her get into the shower earlier. I'm surprised you didn't. She was yelling about something," she sighed, tipping the pan over and letting the contents fall in a yellow pile on the plate she had ready.

"Maybe it's her time of the month," Adam shrugged, and Barbara yanked her head in his direction. "Adam Maitland! She had just come out of a shooting! Lydia just might be paranoid, that's all."

"Hey guys. What's for breakfast?" Lydia said silently, rubbing one eye sleepily as she entered the kitchen. Her hair was still slightly wet, not very well brushed, and the bags under her eyes seemed even darker. "I think I'm really getting the hang of putting these bandages on now, it works much better when I'm clean."

Barbara smiled and set the plate on the table sliding it in her direction, "You want some toast with this, hon? I don't really have the attention span to make anything else…"

Lydia knew what she meant.

"Don't worry. I'm fine, really, it was just a close call, that's all. You guys shouldn't be losing sleep like _this_. You're ghosts, for crying out loud! And I'm still alive, nothing to worry about, right?"

Silence.

She became a little self conscious, knowing that neither of them were going to even look at her for saying that. They couldn't be mad at her, Lydia knew that. But disappointing them… making them feel uncomfortable like this… it didn't feel right. She liked making them proud, not worried.

"Right?"

But the silence drew on. And in lagging her shoulders, she sighed and picked up the fork, eating the eggs that actually weren't that bad, saying as though their creator was under such stress.

When Lydia reached her room again, her eyes were, literally, glued to the floor. She knew he was there, probably preparing a sex joke as she walked into the door, but she wouldn't look at him. Not a simple glance.

And as she guessed so, he was there, laughing, floating above her bed. "Why the long face, babes? Bab's cooking that horrible?"

But Lydia didn't listen. She shrugged off the comment and collapsed on her bed, face down, laying there as if she were dead. She only wanted to be.

"I'll take that as a yes. Hell, wonder how horrible it is _all_ the time, if she was only so out of it today!"

This, Lydia couldn't bear. She rolled over on her back and glared up at the ghost, now floating just a few feet above her. He eyed her chest, and seeing this, she sneered. "You're such a dick!" And in doing so, she kicked a foot up and knocked him up into the ceiling. "If I could I'll call Juno on your ass," she muttered, wondering if Adam and Barbara's stories on the woman were true.

Hearing this, the nameless ghost growled, "You little bitch! You're gonna pay for that one!"

"Oh Lydia!" Delia's voice rose from downstairs, followed by the slam of the front door. "Come help your father and I bring in the groceries!"

Lydia smiled triumphantly back up at him, "Can your revenge wait just two minutes? God, you're so impatient," she said, in the most annoying voice ever possible. She snickered at his clenched fists and teeth, and made her way for the stairs.

* * *

Beetlejuice ground his teeth. The back of his head was sore. When he thudded against the ceiling he actually hit it pretty hard. That little bitch. Why the hell did she do that?! He was only messing with her!

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered under horrid breath as he paced the room in a fashion that would seem noisy. Only, no sound came from it, and his stomping grew harder and harder until' these old bones would surely break under the pressure. How was this girl getting the best of him?!

Or was she?

Was he doing this to himself?

"Gah! Stop thinking! Mother always said it was bad for you!" he yelled at himself, ripping his hair from his head, the blonde chunks falling to the floor.

The door opened just as this happened, and Beetlejuice stood there with two bald spots on his head, seeing Lydia come in the room. "Wow, five minutes alone and you're already falling apart. Don't tell me you missed me _that_ much."

His nose wrinkled.

Such a pain in the ass, this girl was.

"Why would I miss a snot-nosed breather," he retorted, lifting from the ground and began to float in the air. Lydia poked a chunk of hair on her floor and gagged. "Put your hair back where it belongs before I have the mind to shave you bald. That's disgusting."

"Whatever, you know you wanna touch it," he said, a crooked grin taking over the scowl. Lydia didn't fall for it. Instead, she walked over to her nightstand by her bed and opened the top drawer. She pulled out a book and flopped back on her bed.

"What the hell, you're reading?!"

"You bore me."

"I'm the ghost with the most! There are great historic figures in the Neitherworld who'd gladly take your place in basking in my presence!"

"Then tell them they gladly have permission to take my place."

Beetlejuice grumbled something unintelligible. She was boring him too, and he honestly did not have the mind to juice her at the moment. Or… did he?

Lydia flipped the book open and began to drink in the words mindlessly.

Supposedly in the writing, it took place in the time where electricity had been discovered obviously hadn't taken place yet. Ew? Beetlejuice scowled, seeing the preface of the book as Lydia just held it in front of her face and kept on reading. He really needed to juice this book up.

* * *

Lydia read the pages carelessly. So supposedly the King's only daughter was half vampire. Therefore, she wasn't allowed to inherit the land of humans. The other land, on the other hand, would gladly take her with open arms. Although the vampires were supposedly evil, she really didn't want to take over the humans like they planned. Even though the book was boring, she read on. Mostly because anything was more entertaining than having useless battles with a poltergeist that she was still planning on getting rid of.

* * *

So what now? There she stood, pulling the curtains away with pale fingers, and stepping out into the pale moonlight on her balcony. She looked far out into the mountains, and thought hard. Beyond them, she knew, was the vampire's kingdom.

She sighed, looking down now at the outstretch of land, covered by stone buildings, the closer the land, the less dirt streets seen, actually becoming paved with fine brick. She wondered for a brief moment if she actually belonged far out there where the dirt roads lead, or if she wasn't welcome there either… probably not.

A screeching sound caught her attention. Wasn't that a bat? The girl wiped a few stands of red hair to the side of her face, to turn and look a tall dark man in the eye. The man she had met earlier that day. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a whispered tone. "Turn around, and bend over," he commanded.

"What?" she blinked in confusion.

"You heard me, bitch!" he said and pulled a gun from his pocket.

* * *

Lydia blinked. She didn't think guns were even invented in the time this silly novel took place. Even so, she read on. It was getting somewhat interesting…

* * *

"Please, don't!" she begged, and fell to her knees. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to her feet. "Dumb bitch," he muttered, and smacked her back a few steps with the gun.

A unicorn busted through the door and into the girl's chambers, pointing his horn at the man. "What, your pretty donkey's gonna save your ass now?" he asked, and pointed the gun to the unicorn now. It snorted, and charged at him, shoving it's horn through the man's head and pulling out his brain through the hole he had pierced his horn through.

* * *

Lydia sat up in her bed and threw the book down. "What the fuck," she yelled, looking up at him and giving him the most pissed off look she could muster. True, it made the storing more interesting, even if it was the corniest shit he could do with it. It was just... weird...

"I tried to keep it G-rated," he shrugged. "You made a unicorn pull out some guy's brain…"

"Okay, okay, it was weird, and stupid, but don't say you didn't like it," he smiled. Lydia grumbled.

This was going to be a long month.


	10. Predictions

She lidded her eyes, relaxed and calm. Her fingers gingerly slid around the frail glass, and lifted the cup from it's matching saucer. Pink lips touched the glass just as gingerly as said fingers, and she tilted it back in order to swallow the steamy hot liquid in her cup.

Lydia pulled the glass cup away from her mouth as she swallowed the fresh tea, then set it back down on it's saucer she had sitting on a relatively short table placed in the middle of her room. She turned her head; was there a noise? For this to work, she needed absolute silence, and she hadn't seen _him_ yet all morning.

A small smile appeared on her lips. Maybe he decided to leave her alone after all. He hadn't even disturbed her while she slept in a little, let alone the small hum of his power she sometimes felt when he was around. It almost felt too quiet now, very creepy. But at least she had a chance to pull this off.

Just a few more minutes, that's all she needed. Lydia picked up the cup and took a long swig. Perfect! Very little tea was left in the cup. Lydia could just barely hold onto her excitement. But in order to do this reading right, she needed to stay as quiet, calm, and clear as possible.

Lydia set the cup back down and began to focus on her question. Is he going to leave soon or what? Eyebrows furrowed, but then quickly relaxed in the midst of her slight meditation. Fingers lightly touching the cup once more, she spun it counter-clock wise in the saucer. One...Two...Three...

She froze. Lydia looked around, keeping herself relaxed, and tried again to clear her mind. She's just kinda paranoid, yeah, that's it. She didn't hear a noise. Lydia looked

down at the cup, regarding it warily for just a moment. Maybe Adam and Barbara were moving stuff upstairs? Oh well, back to concentrating...she had spun it three times, right? She took another deep breath and tipped the cup upside-down in its saucer. Lydia sat, and waited a few minutes to only focus on her question. This moment had to be absolutely silent.

So what was he going to do? Stay or go? Lydia wanted to know what she was in for, and how soon it would come. And in her mind stayed the question, as she finally picked up the cup back up , and eyed the markings of it carefully. Several symbols within the cup were marked. first Lydia studied the rim.

It looked pretty normal. Some of the symbols marked had nothing to do, such as the Eye, or the Cup Or Glass; even the Cat. Lydia made a disgusted face when she saw the Ace of Hearts. But mostly, she eyed the Snake, meaning whatever thoughts of that wretched poltergeist were right. He is a liar, but she won't call him on his bluff. Not yet. She finished skimming and began to look at the inner circle.

Lydia grimaced. Whatever was in the inner circle was predicted to happen in the next while, least being two weeks, while the rim predicted up to, at most, one. Again, symbols that meant nothing to her were the ones she ignored. Lydia squinted, first sign being for Venus. What was with this Cup and predicting love? First the Ace of Hearts, and now this? What the hell?

And then there was Saturn; she will be tested? Then Mercury... what the fuck, she wasn't social! She rarely even talked! Lydia grumbled and looked down at the saucer. "Worthless piece of shit fortune telling tea cup," she muttered and picked it up angrily, storming down the stairs while still ranting. "Telling me I'm gonna go to parties, be tested, fall in love and other bull shit."

She entered the kitchen, lips parted only in slightly as her silent ranting continued. "Then that I'm going to be Social? What the fuck? Knew it, thing is probably rigged, I should of went with Tarot instead but too late for that now isn't it? Still didn't even finish reading the damn book," she huffed and turned the water as soon as she made it to the sink. "How's the reading?" Barbara asked, appearing into the kitchen with her feather duster. Lydia grabbed the rag with much intolerance and scrubbed the glass roughly, cleaning off the dry tea marks and along the predicting lines. "It's a bunch of bull, I don't think I did it right," she lied, and rinsed off the cup, then grabbed the saucer. She screamed and threw it into the sink, covering her mouth. "Lydia! What's wrong?" Barbara asked, rushing to her and pulling her close. Lydia didn't budge from her stance, then quickly grew furious. "Nothing, just thought I saw something," she sighed, gripping one hand with the other and running up to her room. "I-I need to be alone!"

Lydia slammed the door behind her and locked it, knowing it wouldn't stop Adam or Barbara but at least two parents would be barging in and not just one. She looked down on her hand and felt the coolness of the ring freeze her body to no end. He was around here somewhere. "Allright ass hole, show your face," she muttered. Show no fear, that's what he wants. But he didn't listen, wherever he was, he stayed transparent. Lydia turned around and jerked a little. Or not. "Reading your future, babes?"

"You bitch!" Lydia growled, clenching her fists, "You were spying on me?!"

"Yeah but it's not like you were naked or anything so calm down," he waved her off and floated to her bed. Lydia fumed for a moment and cleared her mind. He wanted a reaction, she wasn't going to give him one. "So where the hell have you been?" she asked in a blank tone. He looked back at her and smiled. "You starting to care again babes?"

"No, I-"

"Because if you are you don't have to play all innocent. I should be the one trying to get _you_ in bed, not the other way around."

Lydia stomped in frustration and retreated from her room. Halfway down the hall she stopped, and turned around. "What?" she asked herself. Usually she retreats _to_ her room. Now she's running _from_? Lydia yelled out loud again. That's it, he's so gone.

* * *

Beetlejuice sat in the corner of her room, the dim glow from the end of his cigarette being the only light other than the gleaming moon's foreshadowing beams. He took in a long drag, and let it out slowly. What time was it, twelve? He looked at the clock on her night-stand... twelve-thirty. Ah, oh well, not like he's got anywhere to go in the morning. No better way to spend the night other than watching your babes sleep. Nope, not tiring at all... okay maybe it was a little tiring. He took another drag and relaxed in the chair to her vanity.

_So where the hell have you been?_

He chuckled to himself. It wasn't the way she use to ask it, but pretty damn close.

* * *

Week number one, check, Lydia sighed and crossed out the past week tiredly. She looked back along the past markings from so far this month to see how jagged each 'X' was. "Damn it you stupid poltergeist," she huffed, realizing the previous X went across the whole calendar and onto the wall. The girl then shuddered and rubbed her ass in a sorry manner, hoping _that_ won't happen again. "Stained... in the perfect shape of your _hand_!" she yelled, quickly losing her temper. "I only not have to burn those pair, but make myself new ones too. And I ran out of fabric," she hissed at the poltergeist with a smug look on his face as he floated above her dresser. "Loosen up, it was a pair of black jeans, not like you can't _buy_ them anywhere," he snickered, picking at a tooth with his nail. "Fine," she said, the ghost seeming somewhat bothered by the smile in her voice, which had shown itself clearly on her face. "You're right, they can be bought. And since it was your hand that soiled them-" she turned to give him a cold look, "-while they were still on _my ass_. You can be the one who pays for them," the sincere little smile returned.

"Fuck. You," the Ghost with the Most spat, getting ready to put a cigarette between his lips before it was snatched away by a sixteen-year-old bitch. "No pants, no smokes," she smiled, and tossed the cancer stick out the window. "Think you're so smart," he muttered, juicing the same stick back into his hand.

Lydia snatched it again, "Do it one more time, see what happens," she warned, yet still cheerily. This time, she didn't bother to throw it. The poltergeist glared at her with emerald green eyes, brow furrowing, and he just juiced it back into his hand.

Once again, she snatched it, but this time she shoved the stick into her mouth and chewed it up. "Third time's the charm," she said with a mouth partially full just as the stick was chewed up into a little ball. He just watched her with a smirk, waiting for her to get sick and throw up. "Just wait, babes," he snickered, somehow entertained.

"You know what? Fine, I'll buy your pants, only because you just made my day watching you make yourself puke," he said just as she spat up the ball into her hand, gagging and sticking her tongue out. "I'm not going to puke. The mint flavor saved it," she gagged, tossing the ball from her window, "We're going in five minutes," she said bluntly just as she reached the door. "And what are you gonna do in the mean time?" he asked, plopping down on her vanity with a loud _thump!_ "In the mean time I will be gargling the rest of my mouth wash," she moaned, ignoring Barbara's question downstairs of what all the commotion was about.

The ghost struggled to muffle a loud cackle, which came out slightly heard but only by Lydia. She gagged, again, and this time ran for the bathroom.

* * *

That had to be the funniest look on Lydia's face he had ever seen in his life. Beetlejuice, whom was still giggling, could no longer contain himself once the sickened Goth returned to her room. "I fucking hate you," she sighed, but didn't pull her glance away from him for a second.

"Lydia?" Barbara called into the door. "Oh no..." Lydia murmured, turning to look at him. But then her features crossed, and she smiled, getting an idea. An idea Beetlejuice feared he wouldn't like. "Coming, Barb!" she yelled, running to the door to see if she could get to it before he went invisible.

She didn't make it very far though, before feet came off the ground and she was no longer able to run in any direction. "Ugh! You stupid...!" Before she could get much more out, Beetlejuice snickered and pulled her through the mirror, shoving her into his world, then quickly following. Barbara was still probably at the door... but what the fuck did he care? Like he was really gonna lose any sleep over that.

* * *

Lydia yelped, not remembering much of what just happened, but definitely knew that she was...not in her room. She groaned, straitening herself out and popping her back while standing, looking around her crummy surroundings wearily. Very slowly grasping where she was just sent to. "Where am I?" she asked in a cold tone, looking for the poltergeist who was hopefully in the same room.

"Definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto," the very ghost she was looking for cackled, apparently in a dusty old red chair by a table with countless candles on it. Each one lit, though the wax didn't seem to melt.

Lydia didn't say a word after the realization slowly landed in her mind, telling every one of her nerves to start freaking out. Though the most she had really done was stand very still and stare at absolutely nothing, it was the only thing she could do to keep herself remotely calm. "What?!" she finally exploded. "I thought I needed to call your name three times to send you back," she hissed, clearly not happy like he was probably hoping. "Hey, you wanted in," the ghost shrugged, "Not to mention that since we're married now, that rule no longer qualifies."

"Then what about in the bathroom when...?"

"Couldn't resist letting the tension build," he smirked, leaning back in the chair. "I mean, if he shot you to the point that it killed you, it would have sent you here to the Neitherworld anyway, so fretting over your life would have been pointless on my part. Kicking his ass if he did, though, is what I'd be dwelling on if it weren't for the fact that I couldn't just come out and _not_ try to help you."

"So you're saying if I died you wouldn't care."

"Don't see why I should since _someone_ tried to walk out on me on our wedding," he snapped. Lydia cringed, looking down at her hand and fingering the ring. "Isn't like you didn't get what you wanted anyway," she muttered, turning to look around the room. "So this is the Neitherworld? Kinda small..."

"No. This is my _grave_, I thought you knew that."

"Like I really know anything about this place since I'm _alive_."

The poltergeist ignored her and snapped his fingers, the room around them spinning fast. Lydia thought she was going to puke, and closed her eyes trying not to let herself get dizzy. "Wakey, wakey, Lyds," she heard him chime from behind her. "What'd you do?" she groaned, opening her eyes and covering her mouth like it would keep her from throwing up. "Took us to the Spooky Boo-tique, where else?" he said with a slight frown, almost upset that she asked. Lydia ignored this and looked at the small building before her, then turning around to see the endless parking lot in front of it. "All these people aren't... inside there, are they?" she asked in a tone that seemed off pitch. She could hear the ghost snickering now. "Yep. Guess they upgraded since the last time we've been here."

"We?" Lydia scoffed, but he ignored her, and dragged her through the doors. She expected to see a million and five creatures crunched up wall to wall in the small building, but inside was quite the opposite. The inside was actually, for some impossible reason, much, _much_ larger than it was on the outside. Almost like it was its own mall, as everyone in side, every size, shape, and species ran around, picking out awesome looking clothing. Lydia started to drool over a couple pieces, "I guess this is where you're getting my pants?" she asked, pulling out a silk skirt with a neon pink fishnet material hung messily over it, black and white leggings counted in the design. "I've never seen anything like these before!"

"How the hell can you say that, you're the one who made 'em!" The ghost behind her exclaimed, making her freeze. "What?" she murmured. "Oh, you're suddenly remembering?" he huffed. Lydia stared off into space for a moment, not blinking, and not even breathing, and before she knew it she just forgot the past few minutes like it never happened. "What?" she said again, looking at him a little bewildered at her surroundings, then looked back a the clothing in her hands, "Whoa! So cool," she smiled, looking for her size in it.

* * *

Beetlejuice just looked at her almost astonished. Did she really just pretend to forget everything in the past five minutes? He ground his teeth together, and floated behind her while she looked around. "These are all so cool! Whoever came up with this is a genius!"

He just rolled his eyes, deciding that he was done telling her anything about their past together. Every time she either ignored him or do that... freaky stare thing she just did. He always liked freaky but Lyds was really pushing it this time. Speaking of Lyds... where'd she go?

"Lyds?"

* * *

Lydia backed up a few steps, looking up in awe at the dark figure closing the distance to her. "Excuse me miss," probably the most handsome boy she'd ever seen standing before her, "Do you by chance need any help? That looks like a lot of clothes there."

Her cheeks flushed, she could feel the blood rushing. She wasn't a very social person, not to mention that maybe one of the cutest dead guys she'd seen since she'd been here was talking to her. But he wasn't being very flirty... so why the hell was she blushing?! _Snap out of it Lydia! Just ask him where the dressing rooms are._

"Yes uh... I would just like to know where the dressing room is," she smiled, taking a deep breath to calm herself. The boy smiled, flashing two fangs long enough to make her gulp. "Those are uh... some nice fangs you have there," she laughed nervously and looked at his name tag, "Uh... Benny?"

"Why thank you," he said, "I have to sharpen them quite often," he said simply before leading her across the store. He wasn't _that_ much taller than her, but enough to make her look up just to see him. His long white hair probably reached down to the center of his back, pretty healthy looking too for how long it was. The clothes he wore were black though. Pretty cliché so far, but it didn't change the fact that she liked it. A lot.

"Here you go," he turned around and smiled at her. He picked a key with a number tag on it and handed on her. "Room number three."

Lydia took the key with a smile and turned to go into the room she was directed to. "Hey uh, a group of friends and I were gonna go out tonight," the Benny called after her, Lydia stopped in her tracks and turned back to face him. "Maybe if you wanted to you could meet up with us?"

She slowly cracked a smile, her cheeks heating up again. "S...Sure," she smiled. "Cool, we'll be at the Creepy Eye Scream shop maybe around eight or nine. See you there?"

Lydia nodded, and scurried off to her room as fast as she could.

_The Ace of Hearts..._

_

* * *

_

_**A/N:**_ Probably noticed that things seem... pretty wacked out between the characters. I'm going to make a couple of boy cliches, Benny for example, to try to get the actual plot going. So from this point on it's going to hopefully be more exciting to read. Sorry for the wait, guys...


	11. Two Hours Head Start

"Thank you, gentleman, for meeting us here tonight," a young man smiled, folding his hands together.

Several men, probably the closest to human looking citizens of the Neitherworld, stood before their main speaker. Their faces each held an individual emotion. Fear, anger, hunger, frustration were all on the list. Each and every one of them eyed the man before them with a trace of hatred. Fear was a faint tint to the glare in their eyes, but for the most part, they did their best to hide that emotion.

"I'm sure there's a lot of things you would like to discuss," the man started again.

"Get on with it already," one of the more aloof characters near the back said. In reply the man gave him a blank look, one of boredom that said he did not want to be there.

"Yes, very well… Benny, was it?"

The man in question smiled, leaning against the side of a building. They were all crammed into an alleyway, which was very dark. The farther back one looked, the more pairs of glowing eyes were seen.

"Glad to see you remembered my name, your highness."

"That's _low_ness," the man corrected. Benny shrugged it off.

"I know you want us out of here, and back to the region we came from," Benny smiled smugly, giving his _low_ness a fanged grin before adding, "And we were planning on leaving tonight; no catch this time."

His Lowness crossed his arms, looking at Benny skeptically, "Oh really now?"

"Yeah, really," Benny nodded, leaning off the wall, "To be quite honest this region of the Neitherworld hasn't been very… entertaining. It's really boring, and we can't find what we're looking for here anyway."

The man, whom wanted more than to just get rid of them nodded.

"Then there is no reason for my meeting you here. My apologies for the false gathering. You have until midnight to leave, and if you fail to do so then not only will you be banished from this region but also your own. Not only that but you _will not_ be allowed any blood imports of any kind wherever you are. It takes a long time for a vampire to starve and that's exactly what you'll do. Now if you'll excuse me," the man frowned and snapped his fingers. His mass vaporized and he was suddenly traces of smoke, fading into nothing.

Benny smiled, staring at the space the man use to be in. "Such a royal pain in the ass," he smirked, leaning off the building. The rest of the eyes then turned to face Benny, whom was no doubt their leader. The unmoved vampire looked back at all the eyes, growling a little. Sure, they looked up to him. But being the center of attention, especially like this, really ate at his ass. "What the fuck are you looking at?" he yelled.

All the eyes turned away, making Benny smile.

"What he said about blood transports," a female voice said, just a little off to Benny's side, "How are we going to eat?"

"Don't worry," Benny started, making a gesture as to dust off the sleeves of his jacket, "Technically, he meant that he'll make us starve if we fail to leave before midnight. We have six hours. Now, you four," he suddenly pointed to a group off to the side, "Get dressed, and be sure to look ghoulish," Benny said, walking out of the alley. "We have a _human_ to catch, which is very rare to find here in the Neitherworld. If we're lucky, we can each take a sip. Unlike the monsters down here, mortals can create more blood when given the time. So _don't_," he stopped and turned back to look at the crowd with the meanest scowl he could muster, "don't drain her right away. If we want this supply to be endless, give her time to recoup after each feeding. Got it?"

And then he disappeared out of the alley.

* * *

Beetlejuice yawned, hovering over Lydia's bed as she checked herself in the mirror for maybe the millionth time in the last thirty minutes. She was moving at light speed, from her closet, to the mirror, to her makeup to do something else to her eyeliner. The girl was nervous, and the silence wasn't making him feel so great either.

He felt right at home, just like the old times other than the fact that he didn't even know her name. Maybe he could joke with her a bit, and she'd laugh. Hey, it was worth a shot.

"You don't gotta get so dressed up for me, doll," the poltergeist shrugged from his spot above her bed. Lyds turned around with a glare, her cheeks slightly pink.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she yelled.

"Jesus you crazy broad, that's the first time I've said anything during your little girl tantrum you've been having since we got back!" he snapped, offended by her reaction. Lydia limply sat on the chair by her vanity, whimpering a bit to herself. She didn't seem phased at all by what he said, but something else was definitely chewing her ass.

"Lyds."

"What?" she snapped, looking up at him coldly.

"What the fuck crawled up your ass, Lyds? You were perfectly fine this mornin'."

"Why is it such a big deal to _you_, mister I-don't-give-a-fuck-about-no one-but-meself."

She had him there. Why did he care? Well, because, she's his former best friend, and he still cared about her of all people. But when she questioned him, it made him not want to care at all. Beetlejuice had been able to shut off feelings for other people, sure. But when it came to his Lyds? Hell no! He had the hardest time trying to forget her.

Though it just pained him to see that she'd already forgotten him.

His thoughts were interrupted when Lydia sat down a chair away from him, hiding her face in her hands. "I don't know what's wrong with me," she groaned from behind her makeshift barrier, slightly curling up in her seat. "I wanna go back to the Neitherworld. But I don't want to feel like I'm sneaking out… "

It took him a second before catching on.

"Wait," he said, sitting up from his lounging position in the air, "You wanna go back?"

"Uh huh," Lydia whimpered.

"Why?"

She was _not_ going to tell him that she had been asked out by a vampire. Risking the lazy ass saying no and grounding her from the Neitherworld wasn't even on her to-do list. "I wanna see what it's like at night," she said, short and simple. It wasn't totally a lie, she was half wanting to just see what the place looked like when the sun… or in their case, _suns_, were down.

"Just say you're staying with Berth and Prune," the poltergeist shrugged, leaning back in the air again.

"Berth and Prune?"

"You know, Bertha and Prudence?"

"Are you talking about the two girls I go to school with?" she vaguely recalled their names being taken in roll call… but how the hell would he know them? The ghost with the most just nodded, giving her a grunt in reply as well.

"How do you even know them?" she asked.

He sat up, looking very agitated, "I'm not going over this if you don't know. You never know. You act like you don't know anything. Just go to the fucking Neitherworld already, leave you parents a fucking note, I don't care. Before you piss me off."

Like he wasn't already pissed off, she though. Shrugging, she reluctantly turned to the mirror, and started to step through into the Neitherworld. But first, she had to make sure of something.

"You coming?" she asked before her head went through. The ghost shrugged, and waved her off before turning over like he was sleeping, "I'll catch up in a minute," he muttered. She shrugged, and continued all the way through.

* * *

"Lydia honey, dinner is ready!" Barb called into Lydia's room as she passed it. Beetlejuice, whom was the only one on the other side of the door, stirred in his sleep. How long had it been since she left, anyway? Ten, fifteen… twenty minutes?

"Two hours?" he yelped, sitting up and staring at the clock on her nightstand. "Oh fuck," he muttered, still sensing the ghost woman's presence near the door. He could faintly hear her asking something. Probably 'Are you alright, Lydia?' He cursed himself under his breath, and tried his best to mimic Lyds'.

"I'm going over to Berth and Prunes- ah, I mean, Bertha and Prudence's house. They invited me over," he said. Barb didn't buy it, standing near the door. She started to open it, and he quickly locked it from across the room. The woman cursed, then, still standing near the door, she ruffled her skirt a little nervously. "I never heard the phone ring."

"I called them," he replied quickly, still using Lydia's voice. Barb seemed to accept that much, sighing with a hint of disappointment that she wouldn't be joining them for dinner, skipped down the stairs. "Be sure to say goodbye when you leave" she called back before continuing to the kitchen. Beetlejuice snorted, rolled his eyes, and continued to the mirror.

_Gotta go find Lyds_, he thought.

* * *

Moments after the girl had entered the Neitherworld, Lydia had realized that she was not in the same place she and the poltergeist had started off in before. Actually, it was completely different. The room was… by far bigger, and not very furnished. There weren't tables with an endless supply of candles, or that big red chair. Not even the stack of newspapers with certain articles missing or clipped out. The girl bit her lower lip, tip-toeing her way across the room. It was oddly familiar, shouldn't be too bad once she was outside. Her visit to the Neitherworld before wasn't so bad when it came to the locals. Didn't see why it'd be any different now. The goth-girl found the door in the dim lighting coming from outside, and pushed it open quietly. Something told her this place wasn't uninhabited, and she didn't want to disturb whomever, or _what_ever was living here.

_Just get out of here quickly, and quietly_, she thought when she silently closed the door behind her, and continued down the hall. She could see stairs up ahead that lead down to the floor below into an open living room. The girl silently wondered if they called that something else, rather than the _living_ room. Maybe they called it a dead room? _You know, since they're dead and all…_

_Budum, ching!_ she thought in attempt to highlight her corny joke. Maybe that poltergeist would have liked it… if he were here to listen. Lydia frowned, recalling his attitude before she left. Something about him was off beat, out of character. When they had gotten back, he didn't even hit on her like he would have. No corny jokes, no cupping a feel when she wasn't paying attention. She liked it that he didn't but it almost scared her to walk out of her room untouched what-so-ever. He wasn't… himself. He wasn't… whatever his name was.

Wait, why the hell did she care? Lydia felt her face heat up when she realized she was thinking of him as a person and not some grimy dead pedophile. When she reached the stairs, she unconsciously felt her left hand for the ring, which wasn't there. A frown tugged at her lips, and she again felt her cheeks warm.

"What the fuck," she muttered to herself out loud, getting ready to slap herself full on across the face. _Stop thinking about it_, she scolded herself, half way down the stairs now. She kept as quiet as she could, not making a sound. Lydia reached the bottom of the stairs, an archway to the kitchen just to her right. Something was off about this place… someone lived here but it still felt so empty… and dead. Deader than dead, actually… oh well.

Passing by the furniture as quietly as she could, Lydia froze when she heard a pot drop in the kitchen, and cursing that sounded… French? She silently squeaked in surprise and crouched down like it would actually make her invisible.

Another voice, this one female, uttered something unintelligible from the kitchen. The first voice replied something sharp with a French accent, Lydia couldn't make out a single thing they were saying. When she was sure they weren't emerging from the kitchen, she rose slowly to her feet. _Keep. Quiet_, she thought, tip-toeing as fast as she could towards the large red doors before her. On her way past the coffee-table, she stubbed her toe on leg.

"Mother Trucker!" she yelled out loud, instantly cursing the table over and over again, hopping on her better foot while she held the injured one. Then she stopped abruptly, recalling that she wasn't the only one in the building. The argument in the kitchen ceased, and two silhouetted shadows stuck their heads from around the corner. Lydia gulped, zooming in on the door as fast as she could.

"Lydia!" both figures said in unison when she had reached the door, but the girl didn't stop. She bolted out the door, and didn't stop until she was certain they hadn't followed. It wasn't until the girl had entered the city limits, safely hidden by the comfort of tall buildings, when a strange thought confused her. "They knew my name…" she said softly, shuddering. The thought irked her, causing Goosebumps on her arms. Lydia bit her lip again, glaring at the concrete before her like it held the answers to everything. "How did they know my name…"

The sound of a car wreck broke her thoughts, making her to look up at a fleshy mess in the middle of the street.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin'!" a Brooklyn accent yelled. It wasn't coming from the wrecked vehicle's passengers, but the vehicle _itself_. The cab, wrecked in the middle of the road, huffed, glaring at the car before it. "Dumb broad," it muttered, at the smashed convertible before it.

"Kiss my ass you stupid sedan!" the sports car, obviously female, argued with the cab.

"Oookay, that's not creepy," Lydia smiled to herself, watching the argument with interest as she crossed the street. She stopped somewhere by a light pole, watching the bewildered passengers of the cab, and owner of the convertible get up and dust themselves off. The group met in the middle of the argument, apologizing and introducing themselves as their vehicles kept going at it. The cab eventually noticed the mortal girl's staring, and turned to take his rage out on her as well. "What the hell are you staring at, shrimpy?"

"Nothing, sorry, I just… couldn't help it. I've never seen talking cars where I come from," Lydia laughed nervously, raising her hands as it to show she meant no harm.

"Where you from?" the convertible asked, suddenly interested in the girl as well. Lydia's eyes shifted nervously, "Uhmm… far away," she said, and added a quieter 'far, far away…' Both cars exchanged odd glances, suddenly forgetting their argument. "Uh, okay," the cab started, "she's not as pale as any of the other corpses," he thought out loud, mostly to the sports car. Lydia glanced at the passengers, whom at walked to the other side of the street to the nearest pay phone. The sports car broke her thoughts, "She looks pretty mortal to me. Honey, are you still alive?"

Lydia nodded slowly, deep in thought about other subjects. Then she realized… she needed to get to the Eye Scream Shop. The cars had asked her something else, but Lydia shook her head, and smiled apologetically at the cars. "I'm very sorry," she started, "I'm here on behalf of a ghost friend of mine, who brought me here," she'd use his name but, oh wait, she forgot it. "I'm meeting him at the Creepy Eye Scream Shop… did I say that right? Anyway, he's sending me back tonight if I can find him. But I'm not really familiar with the area, as you can tell. I'd love to stay and chat but, could you direct me to the place?" she smiled impishly, not sure herself how to really deal with people. Much less talking cars…

"Oh sure, honey! It's a few blocks down," the convertible smiled, shrugging a tire in the pointed direction.

"Yeah," the cab agreed, "Make a right on Fear Street, it should be just down there."

"Thanks!" Lydia smiled, and ran off in the direction her new… _acquaintances_ pointed her in.

* * *

Aw hell, where'd the kid go? And how did she end up in the road house anyways? Beetlejuice floated fast as he could out of his old apartment, heading towards the front door when he was abruptly stopped by an angered, and at the same time confused skeleton. "Beatlejoose!" Jacques exclaimed, tapping a boned foot. "You need to explain to me somezing," the skeleton growled.

"Yeah!" Ginger agreed, lowering just beside him. Both were blocking the angry poltergeist's path.

"Explain what? That you two are in my _way_?" Beetlejuice growled, popping his knuckles. "If you'd kindly move, 'fore I send you to sandworm land, that'd be very pleasant."

"Lydia was 'ere," Jacques said, causing the poltergeist to falter. "You saw her?" he asked. Ginger nodded, "Yeah! But she ran away the second we noticed her."

"How long ago?"

"About two hours…" she sighed, "We would have looked for her but we figured she had somewhere to be, hurryin' that fast an' all…"

Beetlejuice growled, exploding in their faces. "How _stupid_ are ya two? She's been lost in the fucking Neitherworld for two hours? What the hell guys?"

They didn't have a chance to reply after that. The ghost with the most stormed from the road house, heading for the city. Ginger sighed, frowning at the door, "I guess that means Beetlejuice wasn't with her," she sighed.

"We should 'ave gone after her," Jacques said softly in his French accent, "We've spent all this time hoping she'd be back. And the one time she is, it's without Beatlejoose. What are the odds?" he shrugged, returning to the kitchen.

"I just hope she's alright. Wherever she went, she's had a two hours head start."


	12. Masquerade

**A/N:** Happy New Year! Sorry these last few chapters aren't going to be as polished as the others are... but I'm in the kind of 'Just do it and get it done' mood so... I hope you guys will enjoy it anyway. Thank you so much for the still supporting reviews! =)

* * *

Two hours… two hours… it all changed in two hours. Lydia was dizzy, laying on concrete in the middle of the night. Crates… she was surrounded by crates, probably shipping loads if she had to guess. They all looked dusty, like they hadn't been touched in… what… a million years? Two million? The fuck if she knew. All the girl knew was, her head hurt like hell, and she _definitely_ wasn't where she was hoping she'd be when she woke up. "Stupid… poltergeist," she bit back a sob, wondering where the hell the ghost was. Upon pushing herself off the ground, Lydia found that her strength was the last thing to wake up. She fell back limply on the concrete floor, looking up to see that they were in what looked like a warehouse. Whether or not it was abandoned was the question. Maybe the Neitherworld was always this dusty. Guess maids went somewhere else when they died…

"Ah, splendid for you to join us," a familiar voice cooed, smiling a fanged grin in Lydia's direction. She remembered that he was a vampire, and with some effort, rolled to her side and felt her neck. No marks yet… he just knocked her out is all. "Benny?" she asked, exhaling deeply before taking a gulp of air, almost like her sleep suffocated her. The vampire in question raised a brow, coming within sight of the human girl. "I was just about to wake you up actually. No, you haven't been bitten yet if that's what you're wondering. We need you to… last a little while longer. For security purposes. But we won't be staying here long, is there anything I can get you before we leave?"

"What?" Lydia groaned, trying once more to sit up. Benny just watched her, rather entertained by her feeble attempts to sit up. "I'm a little confused as to why you're kidnapping me," the girl stated softly when she was upright enough to look at him fully. Benny nodded, understanding that it was a legitimate question, "To make it simple for you to understand, Vampires from the Neitherworld feed on the blood of their victims as well as the soul. While the souls are just as satisfying, the blood takes longer to digest, meaning we aren't as hungry as often. Finding any bodies that have some blood left however, is very, _very_ rare.

"So, after I ran into you I remembered that humans generate their own blood when given time to recoup. Much to my observing, you seem to like most things in the Neitherworld, so if we kept you here with us, meaning my clan and I, we'd never go hungry again. We're full, and you get whatever you want out of it besides freedom. It's a win/win if you ask me."

"Not really," Lydia protested, fully awake now. "I like it here, but I don't want to _stay_ here. I want to go home."

Benny snarled, showing fangs as he did so, "You can not leave. We are moving to another region of the Neitherworld as we speak. The 'Prince' will not let us stay in this region, we seem to threaten the capital's way of life here. And you're coming back with us," he said. "You have no choice in the matter."

Lydia bit her lower lip, trying to recall the events of the past two hours. They were hazy, she couldn't recall a thing. "Damn," she sighed, not yet getting up from her spot on the floor. Where was the fucking ghost? If she knew his name, she could call herself out of this one. Bribe him with something. The girl felt her left hand for the ring, which wasn't there. She cursed again, looking around. She noticed that Benny wasn't the only vampire in the warehouse. "How are we traveling?" she asked.

"I assigned someone to steal a delivery truck big enough to fit most of us. Don't worry, You'll sit in front so that they don't hoard you all at once," he smiled, and winked at her, "I'll even drive."

Fuuuuck that. Lydia scowled, wishing the ghost with the most was the one winking at her right now. She'd feel more comfortable knowing it was his goofy ass than this… unknown vampire guy. Sure, vampires in novels were hot. This one however, wasn't giving her that normal 'dark and handsome' vibe. Not even a malicious or evil one either. Just someone looking out for his own best interest, and that of his own people. She understood that… so long as she wasn't going to be stuck with him 'til she died. "I don't care what you say," Lydia growled, putting on her scary goth-girl face, "I'm going home."

The second the girl stood up, Benny was instantly before her, scowling down at her. "I wouldn't defy a group of vampires if I were you," he said softly.

"Try me," she replied with the same tone of voice as his. When he didn't do anything, she smiled, and laughed softly before backing away, and starting to walk around him. When she was clear of him, and had walked several feet, he was suddenly in front of her again. Lydia frowned, no longer amused by this game, "Benny, I'm going home. I'm sorry but I can't be your food pantry for the next fifty years of my life. I have better things to do."

"I'm warning you," he said again.

"And _I'm_ warning _you_," she said, looking around for an excuse. She needed a bluff, and a good one. "I… I'm a witch," she smiled coyly, starting to walk around him again, "Try and stop me, I'll turn you into a worm."

Benny looked at her skeptically. "I thought witches turned people into toads."

"I won't give you the satisfaction of having limbs," Lydia retorted, continuing. Again, he blocked her way in a flash. Getting frustrated, the girl stomped her foot, growling loudly at him, "Knock it off, Benny! Before I really do turn you into something you'll regret!"

"Like what?"

"Like a pile of broken flesh all over the god damn concrete, now let me go!" she threatened. He laughed at her threat, a fit of giggles that mad her feel… uneasy. "Soon as that delivery truck gets here," he started, "We're leaving. And if beating you into submission gets you in the truck than so be it. I assure you though, Lydia, I could break your wrist with the flick of a finger if I wanted to."

She wasn't going to test his anger so much to make him do that at the very least. But Lydia wasn't going to give up that easily. She was going home one way or another, with or without the help of that useless pain-in-the-ass ghost.

_Where are you, poltergeist?_

_

* * *

_

_Where are you, Lyds?_

Beetlejuice had spent the better part of an hour turning the Neitherworld upside-down looking for her. If he had any hopes of finding Lydia, he'd better start looking a little harder. How do you lose a living girl in a crowd full of dead people anyways? Fucking seriously, this has to be the dumbest thing he'd been through since he'd reunited with the broad. He stopped floating through the streets after an hour, realizing he'd been down every road and looked in every alley. She wasn't roaming the streets, she must be somewhere!

Beetlejuice landed in front of the Eye Scream shop, recalling all the past memories they had spent here. Maybe she'd been through here on her way somewhere. He walked up to the creature at the front counter, gazing slightly at the menu of endless flavors before snapping his attention back to the thought of Lyds. "Has a mortal girl run through here recently?" he asked.

"Define mortal," the creature said, looking oddly confused. Beetlejuice growled in slight irritation, "_Living_!" he yelled.

"Oh, yeah, that girl? The Breather? She came by a few hours ago. Left with a group of vampire- hey!"

"Where'd they say they were going? What did he look like?" Beetlejuice yelled, grabbing the creature by the shirt collar and practically pulling it over the counter. "I don't know where they went!" it stammered, pulling itself away quickly after he had released his grip. "I know the Prince has been trying to get rid of them for a while. Maybe he'll know where they are!"

"Fuck!" the poltergeist yelled, slamming a fist on the counter and walking out of the shop. He was being sent on a fucking wild goose chase! Beetlejuice wasn't going to go out of his way all the way to the castle. He'd get the prince to come to him somehow, the castle was just too far. _Besides_, he thought, strolling through the doors into the Netherworld's Police Department, _I haven't given the place any hell in the past few months anyway._

_

* * *

_

Prince Vince sat on his throne, resting his chin on the heel of his palm. Before him stood a woman in a red business dress, holding a clipboard out before her. "Your majesty," she started with a slight bow before proceeding, "There seems to be an increase in the population within the last month. We need to open up a new district and region of the Neitherworld fairly soon. It's becoming overcrowded in some areas and rather hard to manage," she explained. Vincent nodded in agreement, "Yes, about that. Our landscapers are on vacation, and they're the only ones I trust to help me open up new regions to the Neitherworld. Opening a new district is going to have to be put on hold until they return."

The woman sighed, lowering her eyes for a moment before she let herself falter. "As you say, your majesty. I just hope you keep in mind the well being of your people," she sighed before walking out. Vincent hadn't given her a second glance as she was leaving, and turned over in his chair to face one of his advisors. "I'm going to go watch some… television, in the theatre room. Let me know if anyone else tries to get a hold of me."

Half way down the hall, the prince walked slowly, taking each step with caution. He wanted to make not a single sound stepping down the large, lonely corridor. If he heard himself, he would be reminded of just how alone in the large wing he was. Vincent sighed rather sadly, recalling that he'd never been truly happy in his entire life. He'd come close to it a few times, but not quite there. Not even Lydia could bring his spirits up anymore, wherever she was. The thought of her was no longer comforting like it use to be. After her departure years ago, not even Beetlejuice was the same. The whole Neitherworld felt… pointless.

The prince turned to look over his shoulder with an annoyed frown, watching a man run clumsily after him down the corridor. "Your lowness!" the servant cried breathlessly, carrying a telephone with him. The corpse nearly tripped over the wire upon catching up with his majesty, whom looked quite irked. "What is it?" Vincent asked, taking the phone and speaking into the receiver. Instantly he heard a man yelling in another direction from the phone line.

"Officer?" Vince asked, recognizing the chief of police's voice almost immediately.

"Your lowness!" he cried from the other end of the phone. Vince nodded when acknowledged, listening intently. The servant watched a little nervously when the prince's face was hard, clearly disgruntled. "Okay," he said simply before hanging up the phone in the servant's hands. "I'm heading out," Vincent said, simply snapping his fingers before disappearing before the servant.

* * *

Beetlejuice was having his own version of fun waiting for the prince to show up. When the chief of police hung up the phone, he was turned into a fat, frightened cat. "Bark bark," Beetlejuice said slowly, the rest of the officers turned into dogs. All of the ghoulish canines perked their ears at the sound of their chief meowing.

Like a pack of wolves, all the dogs slowly prowled in the direction of the cat, drooling, baring sharp teeth. Beetlejuice juiced a large bone on the cat, tied with a string like a necklace around its chubby neck. The dogs barked, and chased the cat completely out of the police station, not too far behind the scurrying feline.

"Beetlejuice," a scolding voice said from behind the ghost with the most. The poltergeist in question turned around to a scowling Prince Vince. "Bout fucking time, Princey," he muttered, crossing his arms. Vince held up his hand, getting ready to snap his fingers and take them both back to the castle when Beetlejuice interrupted him quickly. "Lydia's back."

That made the prince falter, and lower his hand. "Where is she?" the prince demanded, narrowing his eyes at the poltergeist accusingly. "Well _I _don't have her! I did for a while. She got abducted by some vampires. The ones you were supposedly having trouble with. I'd get her back m'self but I have no clue where the fuck they could be."

Vincent didn't say anything, but he obviously didn't like the idea. "They're leaving tonight," he murmured outl oud to himself. That bit of information didn't seem to lighten Beetlejuice's mood any. The ghost with the most cursed loudly, kicking a chair over as he did so. "Do you have any idea where they are?"

"They hide in several places but the more popular ones are the warehouses at night. They're only open in daylight hours," Vincent said, readying to snap his fingers again. "How long ago did you lose her?"

"Two hours," Beetlejuice said, grinding his teeth a little nervously. Vincent coughed and snapped his fingers hurriedly. "We'd better hurry then, since you don't know how to take care of her."

"Don't pick a fight with me, pretty boy, you might break a nail," Beetlejuice growled at him before the prince's gesture registered, sending them someplace else. "Why didn't you just show up at the castle anyway?" Vincent asked, trying to remember why Lydia even liked the guy. "Too lazy," Beetlejuice shrugged, "The police department was closer."

Vincent shook his head disapprovingly.

* * *

Lydia had been restrained by one of the female vampires, while Benny went to look out for the truck. The vampire girl sat behind the mortal, brushing her hair with long, careful strokes. She sung a soft tune, so quietly it was almost a whisper. Lydia listened to her singing, noting that she just had to be British. Even with her whispering song, she could hear the girl's accent clearly. Even so, when the girl brushed her hair Lydia felt somewhat… calmer under the woman's touch. She didn't seem much older than herself, with long red hair, and red eyes to match. But every time Lydia so much as shifted her weight in her sitting position, the girl froze and had to stifle a hiss. The goth had a feeling somewhere in her gut that this vampire girl was only doing her job in the nicest way possible.

At the sound of the human girl's voice, the vampire jumped. "So how do you guys get to be vampires anyway, in a land full of… dead people." The woman laughed slightly, her accent seemed to echo around the large warehouse. "We died as vampires," she answered simply. "Whether we drowned in Holy water, or in many other cases similar to min, we were staked."

Lydia nodded, sort of understanding. She tried the best she could to get her mind on anything else _but_ the fact that there was no escaping… unless she could pry some information from this one. "Can't you still be staked here?"

"Aye, we can. But it doesn't kill us. Just paralyzes us for sure," the woman smiled, beginning to braid Lydia's hair. "You know," the vampire started, "I think we can be friends, you and I. You're not constantly kicking and screaming like the others do. Then again we don't normally just hold them captive either… consider yourself a lucky one, eh?"

One of the vampires in the distance shifted, taking a few strides in their direction. The girl leapt out in front of Lydia, guarding her with a flash of fangs. "No Henry, we don't feed here. Not 'til we leave."

"What Benny don't know won't hurt him," the silhouetted shadow argued with the same accent as her own. But the girl wasn't moving, shifting her weight to defend Lydia. "Evangeline, I do not have to follow orders from the likes of you. You're just as useless as the bodies we finish."

"While I am here watching over the girl I have more say in the matter than you do. Go back to your corner, I'll save you some after the first feeding," Evangeline said in a soft warning tone. Henry huffed, having no more argument to offer before retreating back into the shadows.

"Just as useless as the bodies we finish?" Lydia quoted in a question, lifting her eyes to meet Evangeline's gaze. "Aye," she said sadly, sitting next to the girl now. "What's that about?" Lydia questioned, picking up the brush and beginning to brush Evangeline's hair. She figured that if she wanted to stay untouched for the next while, she'd better stick with the vampire girl. Evangeline stiffened under Lydia's touch, then relaxed slowly. "We work in ranks," she sighed, "and I'm the lowest one. I do everything, most of the work really. Benny doesn't allow the people he trusts to do so much. Not as much as we do anyway," she sighed.

"That's kind of how school works back at home. Instead of ranks, we have cliques."

"Cliques?" Evangeline asked, looking over her shoulder back at Lydia. The goth girl smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, Cliques. Group of people who dress the same, talk the same, have the more people. The one everyone wants to be in is the preppy cliques. They seem to attract the most boys…"

"What _clique_ are you in?"

"The goth one," Lydia smiled again, brushing long, smoothe strokes through Evangeline's hair. "I thought Goth was a type of architecture," Evangeline said thoughtfully. "It is. People made a style of music out of it. And eventually a style of clothing."

The vampire girl nodded, leaning in to Lydia's touch.

"What is going on in here?" Benny asked, clearly agitated, glaring at the two. "I asked you to watch over her, not have a slumber party!" he growled, flashing his fangs at Evangeline. The red-head flinched under their leader's glare, where as Lydia stood up to defy the vampire. "Leave her alone, she did her job well enough," Lydia said defensively. Benny backhanded her, sending the goth flying back into one of the larger crates. It caved in under her weight, wood shattering in different directions. She swore she felt her back pop against the crate before it broke.

Evangeline snarled in Benny's direction before quickly retreating into a small defensive position. All he had to do was cast her an off glance and she was history, sandworm meat. Lydia groaned from the pile of wood, slowly sitting up. Her back hurt but she didn't mind it. It wasn't too bad, just a little sore. "What was that for?" she muttered, getting on her knees before fully sitting up.

"That, dear Lydia, was for back talking me. My motives and accusations are not questioned around here. And they're going to stay unquestioned. You hear me?" he said slowly, walking in her direction. Evangeline fought every fiber in her being not to try to attack their leader. If she did, she'd surely die, and that'd be the end of her afterlife.

Lydia, on the other hand, stared breathlessly at the broken wood around her. Shards shaped like daggers within reach.

"_Can't you still be staked here?"_

"_Aye, we can. But it doesn't kill us. Just paralyzes us for sure." _

She recalled that bit of their conversation, picking up a big enough shard to penetrate skin. Benny saw this, and laughed. "What do you think you're going to do with that? Stab me?" he giggled. Lydia stood slowly, tightening her grip on her makeshift stake. "More than that," she replied coolly, shifting her weight. Benny didn't stop for a second marching up to her, watching her put both hands behind her back. "Guess which hand it's in," she smiled one he was in range. Her left hand shot forward, but he caught it. "Wrong side," he smiled, which made Lydia's grin widen. Confused, he looked at her hand to see a smaller shard than the one she had originally grabbed. Before he could question when she had picked that one up, her right hand shot forward, and penetrated his skin with the larger slice of wood.

Benny gaped down at his chest to see that the stake had been sent far enough into him to stab his heart. Lydia took a step back, quickly picking up a few more shards she could use as stakes in her own defense. "Evangeline!" she called to the redheaded vampire, now heading in her direction. Lydia tossed her a stake, which the vampire girl caught. Within two seconds, Evangeline had moved as fast as she could across the room, staking someone behind the unsuspecting mortal. The vampire was so fast that the impact of her stake crashing into another's chest made a loud 'thud', sending the limp body to fly back several feet before crashing back down to the floor.

"Thanks," Lydia said breathlessly when the red head returned, flashing fangs anyone who dared come too close.

"Doesn't seem like we missed the masquerade ball," an unfamiliar voice sounded, suddenly silencing the room. All creatures present, even Lydia, turned to one of the larger garage doors to the warehouse, which was now open. Two figures were in the doorway, lingering there for a small second. Lydia assumed the first one to say something was the tall, slimmer character on the left. She could vaguely make out whomever was on the right though.

"Well now that we're," the one on the right cracked his knuckles, emerald eyes beginning to glow in the dark, "Lets get this parted started."

Lydia instantly smiled when she heard the sound of his voice, dropping all of her wooden stakes so she could full on sprint in his direction. Two others noticed her movement and instantly blocked her path, ready to catch the girl if she were to try to push past them anyway. Evangeline pressed herself between the girl and the other two, letting out a cat-like hiss.

"Why are you still protecting me?" Lydia asked, growing bewildered at the woman's actions. Evangeline didn't make eye contact, but she answered none the less, "You stood up against Benny for me. The least I could do in return for that, is make sure you get out of her livin'."

Lydia nodded, and turned to the two newcomers to the party. "Come on in!" she hollered, picking up a wooden shard from the ground. Evangeline did the same, using her stake as a threat to ward off the others, like using fire to threaten beasts. Lydia did the same, widening the circle around them. "It's only a matter of time 'fore Benny gets back to his feet," Evangeline breathed, trying to look for a way to get past them all, "You betta get out of here 'fore that happens."

"What about you?"

"I've been sandworm bait since the second you stood up against the bastard, Lydia. Whatever happens now, I'm a goner. You don't have to be, though. I'll open a path, you try to get to those two up there."

Both girls didn't notice at first all the loose shards of wood rising from the ground on their own. They stood back to back, making sure no one entered their circle. When they did see the shards floating in the air, however, Lydia instantly knew it was the poltergeist's doing. "Now would be a good time to intervene, if that's what you're doing!" she called back over to the two. The ghost with the most was concentrating hard, while the stranger beside him used tremendous amounts of energy to blast back vampires that had decided to attack them instead. Getting her gist, the poltergeist gave her a nasty grin.

Right on cue, each wooden shard shot out in its own direction, taking a victim wherever it went. A good wall of vampires had been staked, leaving a little over half of them still standing. At first, the creatures looked rather confused, then angry. All of them hunched forward in unison. Evangeline gasped, knowing their next move. They leapt for the mortal girl all at once, all at the same time, flashing fangs and claws. The red-headed woman grabbed the mortal girl by the arm, throwing her out of the way. Instead of following the breather, they went for the traitor, sinking teeth into Evangeline and attempting to rip her apart.

Lydia, however, didn't land as gracefully as she would have liked. Before the ground, shit hit another crate, causing the wooden structure to shatter around her just like moments before when Benny backhanded her. But rather than falling into the crate, she bounced back off it and hit the wall behind the crate, and slumped to the floor.

Three times in two seconds she hit her head. Two out of those three times were on concrete. Upon the third time she hit her head, Lydia was out.

* * *

All Beetlejuice saw was Lydia, suddenly air-born, flying to the other side of the warehouse. The whole time she was in the air, she screamed. Before he could even move to go catch her, she hit a crate, and bounced off it into the wall, then a hard thud to the floor. He could hear all of the wind forced out of her lungs upon her landing, which worried him quite a bit.

"Lyds!" he yelled, flashing from where he was, to standing right above her. The girl was out like a friggin' light! "Lyds, wake up," he begged, getting on his knees near her and picking her up. He cradled her for a moment before turning to see Vince had handled more than his own share of vampires. He was going to get weary eventually, and he couldn't just leave Lydia unconscious on the ground. But he couldn't just juice her awake either.

Beetlejuice shook her a little, calling her name, demanding she wake up. Eventually, she stirred a little under his touch, wrinkling her nose. He didn't stop there, though. He kept shaking her, lightly slapping her cheeks to get her to focus. "Lyds, come on babes, get up," he muttered hurriedly.

Her eyelids slid open slightly, and winced. She was obviously dizzy. After scrunching her eyes and trying to open them again, she eventually had herself somewhat focused on him. Beetlejuice sighed a breath of relief. A breath he didn't even know he was holding, let alone breathe at all. "C'mon, get up. Wakey, wakey!" he said a little more rushed than before.

But she just stared up at him, trying to focus. Like she couldn't think of a damn thing to say. Or like she didn't even… know where she was. Her lips parted, and she coughed a little before trying to speak.

"Be… Beej?"


	13. Running a Marathon

**A/N:** I give all of you readers a right to pelt me with rocks._  
_

Out of an odd amount of inspiration that I got from the least expected place, I have actually mustered up the strength to finish this story._  
_

This is actually the last chapter. The way that I had left it with Chapter 12, I had planned on there being one more chapter, and then an Epilogue. And that's how I'm sticking to it. I would like to add more, but I'm scared that if I try I'll lose interest and you guys would be waiting even longer.

Oh, and on a side note, this is the first chapter I will be uploading from my new Macbook that I got for graduation. No need to congratulate me, I just wanted to type it out on here because the keyboard feels so nice...

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Beetlejuice.

* * *

_"Be… Beej?"_

He couldn't believe his ears. Had she really just said his name? Beetlejuice stared intently at her face, watching her eyes roll to the back of her head, and then finally close. Girl was knocked out…. "Shit," he muttered, trying to shake her awake again.

"Lyds, you okay? Anyone home?" he asked, trying to see if she really had remembered.

Beetlejuice grit his teeth when he soon came to the conclusion that the girl wouldn't be waking any time soon. Even though that redheaded chick meant well when Lyds was tossed out of the way, it made him more than just pissed to think that it was their fault that this had happened. Sure, in a roundabout way, he was also to blame. But was he in the mood to admit to that? Absolutely not!

Lydia's limp frame was set gently back on the ground, making Beetlejuice all the more angry that there wasn't anything soft to set her on. They were going to pay for all of this. They were going to pay for coming here, and kidnapping Lyds, and for planning on keeping her (because Beetlejuice just knew that they had no intentions on giving her back). He didn't even have a snide remark ready for the group of vampires when he turned to look at them. Currently, the ones that weren't trying to rip Evangeline in half were kept at bay by Vincent. Beetlejuice flexed his fingers, the majority of his juice focused on his hands as they began to glow an emerald that matched his eyes. Everyone in here was going down, and he'll be damned if any got out of this without a limp at the very least.

* * *

Prince Vince was beyond exhausted by the time Beetlejuice decided to step in. He was starting to think that he'd be over powered, until the powerful blows from the poltergeist took out the vampires he had been trying to keep back. Immediately the ghost 'with the most' was amidst the crowd of vampires, not even bothering to stake them as he hit them left and right either with his own fists or an enormous amount of energy.

Vincent, being the diplomatic type he had to be at times, did nothing to stop him. Normally he would have tried to keep the fighting at a minimum but at this point he was just way too exhausted to do anything about it.

A flash of red caught the prince's attention, the small vampire that had protected Lydia before being cast aside like a rag doll. Her small form hit the ground almost silently, though the fall had been doubtlessly hard on her frame. At that same moment, Vincent had also taken note of the huge truck backing its empty trailer up to the opening that he and Beetlejuice had entered through. Two things went on in his mind at once. First, he needed to get Lydia out of here while he could. Second, he had to keep that truck from leaving. These vampires, who would sadly live past Beetlejuice's revenge, were going to be held somewhere far from here as punishment. But first he'd have to make sure none got away with the truck driver there.

Looking again at the small redheaded vampire, who began to sit up, Vincent came to the conclusion that she could be trusted. Within seconds he was by the girl's side and helping her to her feet. Upon being touched she was immediately on her toes and turning on him with a flash of fangs. But Vincent held his hands up to show that he was not intending any harm in her and spoke briefly.

"Look," he started, attempting to keep her attention before she leapt into battle again, "I don't know why you were helping Lydia, and I don't have any time for an explanation. Right now, all I need is for you to get her out of this warehouse and as far away as possible. Don't worry about where to go. Wherever you end up, just stay and wait for us. Call the police department if you can. We don't have time so _get going_!"

Vincent talked so fast he was almost afraid she hadn't understood a word he said. The girl looked at him for a few seconds before blinking, then nodded and looked out for Lydia's form passed out on the ground. Once found, she hoisted the girl onto her back and took off, hurrying as fast as she could.

One objective down, one more to go, Vincent thought as he turned around, ready to sprint in the direction of the truck. He stopped in horror and watched as one of the vampires, who had been the target for Beetlejuice's rage, crawled the last few feet to Benny's corpse. Vincent ran full speed in their direction, knowing fully well that their intention was to pull the stake out of Benny's heart. Vincent was only a foot from Benny's body when the stake was successfully removed, and immediately the vampire was up and had Vincent pinned to the ground. Vince yelped in surprise but immediately mustered all of his strength into a blow that knocked the vampire from him. It wasn't enough to keep Benny off of his feet though. He skid the last few inches standing, knees already bent in another attempt to attack.

Suddenly the vampire stopped and stood, sniffing the air like a dog that had just caught the scent of something he was looking for. Taking one look around the floor, he noticed that Lydia and Evangeline were both missing. Emitting a growl of frustration in the direction of the prince, the only thing he could think of was Lydia and Evangeline, the traitor. She wasn't going to get away with turning on him like this, and Lydia wasn't getting away period.

"I'll deal with you later!" Benny spat, taking off in the direction the girls had went.

Vincent let out a growl of frustration. Could this get any worse? Looking at the poltergeist across the room that was now repeatedly throwing blows at vampires who he had already hit, the prince decided that now would be the time to intervene.

"Beetlejuice!"

The ghost in question paused in the beatings that he had been giving to look back at the prince. Beetlejuice had a snarl on his face that would make expired milk curl; baring all of his jagged and discolored teeth. Vincent, if he wasn't so irritated and exhausted, may have flinched and decided that whatever he was interrupting him for could wait 'til later. But it couldn't, and that just frustrated him all the more.

"I can handle the rest, go after Benny! Before he gets Lydia!"

This seemed to have the effect he was anticipating. In that moment, whomever he had been holding was slammed to the ground, and Beetlejuice was in pursuit of Benny in the next. Vincent didn't hesitate in that moment to go disable the truck driver. He had to restraint all of these vampires somehow, and in the trailer would probably be the best place at this point.

Beetlejuice certainly did make his job easier. All he had to do was go around and haul all vampires present into the trailer, and use what rope he could to bind them. The Prince paused in his contemplating and decided that maybe using chains, since there were quite a few of those laying around, would be a better option.

* * *

Evangeline was never a runner when she was alive. Even after she had been turned into a vampire, she wasn't particularly fast. Right now, however, her fear had pushed her past her limit and she was pretty sure that she was hardly a blur to everyone else. To put it short, getting away wasn't a problem. Where exactly was she supposed to go, though?

The weight on her back shifted without her consent, and Evangeline realized that while running at this high speed, the girl on her back was waking up. Immediately, her hands clasped around Lydia's wrists, trying to hold her still before she began to question her surroundings and let go.

"Might not wanna let go," she spoke softly but loud enough for the girl to hear her. Lydia's grip on her tightened, and with the extra reassurance Evangeline sped up a little more.

"I… I remember everything," Lydia murmured behind her, "Oh my god… I feel so awful!"

Evangeline turned her head slightly to peer at Lydia, just to make sure she was okay. Honestly, she had no clue what the girl was going on about. The vampire figured it best not to say anything at the moment while she murmured to herself. Eventually she figured she'd have to, seeing as though she didn't know anywhere she should be going right now.

"Sorry to stop your and your thoughts there," she said, trying to speak more clearly through her accent so as not to be misheard, "But do you know anywhere safe that your friends there could find you?"

The girl was silent for a moment. Evangeline started to think that maybe she wasn't heard at all and was about to repeat herself when Lydia hummed in thought.

"Well where exactly are we now?" Lydia asked.

"Eh… we're reaching the downtown area of the capital soon," Evangeline said. She had been running on the sidewalk, easily moving out of the way if someone were to be walking. The only thing making her unsure was the fact that she hasn't explored the city much at all; being too busy with other tasks Benny had assigned her. For the most part she would be able to figure it out, but given the chance that someone had revived Benny, she really didn't want to slow down.

"I'm suspecting that Benny is probably going to be on our tail soon," she stated, as if she were accepting her death ahead of time before she knew if she were even going to die or not.

"Yep."

"And you won't be able to out run him."

"Nope," Evangeline shook her head, "He's much older than me; older than everyone, really. But that only means he's faster and stronger than me times probably ten."

"Okay," Lydia said, again with that tone of voice that had the vampire a little worried, "I'm going to need you to stop here."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it," Lydia said, leaning farther up so she had a better view. Evangeline reluctantly did as told.

"Good. Now go down the manhole."

"Are you _insane_?" Evangeline screeched, instantly letting go of Lydia and putting her down. Evangeline stood her ground while Lydia walked to the middle of the street where said manhole was covered. The way the breather kept walking as if Evangeline had decided to comply unnerved her.

"Are you _trying_ to get us killed? Do you even _know_ where that manhole leads to?"

"It leads to the sand dunes, of course," Lydia said, her composure fully intact, "Think about it. If we go down there, then there's a fifty-fifty chance that Benny will follow. And if he does follow, there's another fifty-fifty that he'll be eaten by a Sandworm looking for us."

Evangeline scowled, looking at the girl as if she was crazy. The vampire, with as much reluctance as before, closed the distance between herself and the mortal. Lydia's expectant look didn't change and Evangeline had asked herself what on earth had happened to her. Before she was a bit on edge, like a teenaged rebel, ready for a fight. However now, she noticed the abrupt change form that angry little girl to a composed woman, thinking carefully about her next move.

It was a very crazy idea. In fact, in some cases, it would be called suicide. However, the look in Lydia's eyes just screamed that she had control. Almost like the girl knew they wouldn't die down there. So with one last odd look, Evangeline got down on her knees and pried the manhole open with her fingers, allowing Lydia to go down first.

* * *

She remembered everything. She remembered every moment down to each and every minute from her childhood all the way up to the…accident. The first time he opened her eyes she saw him, looking like he had just had a heart attack. And the first thing she remembered was his name; the rest had followed suit.

Lydia's eyes immediately felt heavy and she had to suppress a shudder while her memories flooded back to her in waves, each one hitting her harder than a brick wall at 100 miles per hour. She still had the old ones, and remembered everything form waking up at the hospital to now. What had gotten to her the most was how she had treated Beej.

Given that her second first impression of him hadn't been a great one, how could she have let herself become that bad of a person? Not to mention, look at how he turned out as well! Lydia had some serious apologizing to do. No, not everything was her fault, but it wouldn't hurt to say sorry for the things that were.

When she had woken up, Lydia then remembered what the situation was at hand. There was no time to cry, no time to flip out over anything, and absolutely zero time to think about any of those things. The rationality she had as a girl, that she had apparently lost after the accident, was returned and she had to put it into use.

Going into the sand dunes really was a stupid move from the outside looking in. Lydia knew that only an idiot would suggest it and that's why she did. To really think about it, Benny probably wouldn't be so desperate as to go chase after sandworm food. And even if he was, Lydia was quite familiar with the areas, even if she hadn't been there in a while. The neitherworld wasn't necessarily a place that changed a lot.

After Evangeline had followed her down, she started to cover the manhole.

"No, leave it open. We want Benny to know that the bait is there if he wants to take it," Lydia said, stopping the girl immediately. The vampire once again gave her a look that questioned her sanity, but Lydia ignored it and turned tail, heading further into the desert-like terrain.

The first thing to do would be to find an area that would make a possible Sandworm nest that wasn't inhabited. Lydia spotted four immediately and began walking to the closest one, careful not to draw enough attention that would wake a sleeping sandworm.

Lydia was so calm even she questioned herself as to why she wasn't curled up in a ball freaking out. What good would that do, though? She'd rather swallow her fear and try to handle the situation with the opportunities given to her, and reviewing the situation, this really was their only option.

If Benny were to be tracking them without actually being within a seeing distance, he would be using scent. So Lydia, while checking each of the nests, quietly touched and fondled the leaves of the surrounding shrubs the best she could. It took a ridiculous amount of convincing to get Evangeline to do the same, but Lydia could hardly blame her. She'd been afraid of sandworms too. However, attracting a sandworm may be their best bet at this point.

The first two were taken, the third wasn't, and the fourth was practically overflowing with eggs. Settling for the third nest, Lydia held leaves back and gestured for Evangeline to go in first. When the vampire was settled in the small crater inside, Lydia followed, but stayed near the top and settled herself to keep watch. Evangeline refused, feeling more comfortable hiding at the bottom and pretending she wasn't in a used sandworm nest at all. It actually wasn't a bad idea, because she'd be able to spot a sandworm way before Lydia would, giving them the opportunity to hide before it actually showed up.

* * *

"Get back here!"

Beetlejuice shot another ball of energy at the vampire currently fleeing from him. Benny, while taking possibly the same route the girls had, _was_ trying to follow their scent and hoping to catch them. However, he didn't make it very far before he realized there was a certain poltergeist on his tail.

Benny was seriously surprised to find out that he could catch up with him at all. At this point his surprise had eased into irritation. Benny didn't want to fight with the poltergeist at this moment. More than anything he wanted to track down Lydia's scent, and hit both Beetlejuice _and_ that nosy little prince where it hurt.

Might as well enjoy it while he did, too.

With Beetlejuice following them like this, he wouldn't be getting anything done. That's why he had to lose him. Benny had been trying to follow close to the route that Evangeline had taken but after taking a few turns to avoid those energy blasts, he wasn't so sure where it was anymore.

The poltergeist threw another said energy blast at him and Benny reacted a little late. He wasn't knocked off his feet, though it skinned him in its attempt to hit him dead on. The bit of clothing it did catch burnt and the flesh under it looked shredded. Benny winced, resisting the urge to hold his arm and try to get away. Nursing a wound now would be no good for his future, which was at stake.

Another ball of energy was thrown and Benny turned onto a different street to dodge it. It was then he picked up the girls' scent and continued from there, noticing that the smell was stronger than it had been before. They must have been here very recently.

Their scent ended at an uncovered manhole. Whether it went to the sand dunes or the sewers he couldn't tell form this distance. Catching up with them was more important than any thoughts he had on it anyway. Without thinking, Benny went ahead and dove for the manhole.

To his horror, he landed in sand.

* * *

Beetlejuice watched Benny dive into the manhole and before he knew it, he was doing the same thing.

Upon seeing where he had landed he immediately screamed, all of the anger he had before almost entirely evaporated.

Benny had practically done the same, though to Beetlejuice's confusion he had began searching through the nearby nests thoroughly. The poltergeist was simply paralyzed by fear, completely unable to move and go catch the bastard. Actually, his fear got worse.

From under the sand rose probably one of the largest sandworms he had ever seen in his life, towering over the second nest that Benny had been running towards. Immediately the vampire skidded to a halt and yelled. The sandworm didn't hesitate. It didn't even roar. It slammed its head down directly in the spot that Benny had been and went from there in pursuit of the appetizer.

Beetlejuice didn't exactly know what to do when Benny began running in his direction. He didn't even have the thought to turn around and book it himself. The sandworm didn't have any trouble at all catching up with him.

With a desperate look on his face, Benny pumped his legs as fast as they could carry him. He looked over his shoulder to find that the Sandworm was gaining on him, and decided for one last, desperate tactic. The vampire leapt and at the speed he was going, was hoping to make it to the edge of the manhole before the sandworm even thought about striking. Maybe it would even eat Beetlejuice instead, if he were lucky.

Benny would have made it.

At the same time that his feet left the ground, the Sandworm chose that moment to strike. From Beetlejuice's point of view it was seriously the scariest sight he had ever seen. Benny's form was immediately swallowed by the sandworm seconds after it struck, but the creature didn't stop abruptly afterwards. Its head hit the sand again and it slid forward at a fast pace, only gradually slowing down when it was within a good enough distance to notice that Beetlejuice was there at all.

And then it slid to a stop just inches in front of the poltergeist.

The only sound that would dare come out of his throat was a whimper, his body being too stiff with fear to do anything. His back was pressed into the wall and he had absolutely nowhere to run. At this point he couldn't even just juice himself out of this situation. His knees were buckled too tight for them to be shaking, and his eyes were busy strained on the rows of teeth that glared back at him.

The sandworm watched the poltergeist in front of it, snarling slowly as if contemplating how to handle this meal. Its lips began to part slowly and Beetlejuice cringed at the sight of saliva dripping form the corners of its mouth.

"Hey!"

The sandworm's head shot up abruptly, turning its head to see what had interrupted it. Lydia stood by its tail, her foot actually sitting on the tip. Her face had a look of set determination. But she wasn't paying a single mind to the ginormous creature in front of her.

She was staring at Beetlejuice.

Her look was a daring one, pretty much telling him to quit being such a pansy and to face his fear. Beetlejuice looked back over to the sandworm, whose head had lowered to sit just a few feet above Lydia. She didn't look the least bit terrified. She actually had faith in him that he would save her.

The Sandworm sniffed the girl thoroughly, which probably wasn't a good thing since it was just sniffing to see if she was edible. Beetlejuice clenched his teeth and started to run to Lydia's rescue when she raised a brow at him. The large creature did something completely unexpected, however.

It began nuzzling Lydia like a cat.

* * *

**A/N:** Pretty anti-climactic for a final chapter, huh? Sorry about that guys. And not a lot of Lyds/Beej fluff, too. But don't worry! For some reason I had this planned out to where the Epilogue has more fun in it than this chapter does. Not a lot of action, but, you know, for a girl who pretty much forced herself to do this, it didn't turn out half bad.

I really thank you guys who still read this and are willing to stick it out to the end, even though I started this story like.. what... my freshman year? It took me FOUR YEARS TO DO THIS? God I need to get my butt into gear. -.-

Anyways, thanks so much and feel free to review but.. at this point... I'm not exactly expecting much. xD


	14. Wormy

_**A/N:** _Okay, you guys win. I realized myself that if I had made this the epilogue, even with the way I had planned it out, there'd still be too many loose ends. And besides, I didn't want to leave off with such a boring chapter like that anyway, so I made this one especially epic for you guys. I really hope you like it, and I'm not sure if anything like it has been done before. If it has, let me know, and I promise I didn't steal the idea from anyone else. Hope you all enjoy what I had in store for this chapter though. I really did try my best with it. ^^

**_Disclaimer:_**I don't own Beetlejuice.

* * *

Beetlejuice could not believe it.

This thing just ate Benny, and now it's cuddling up to Lydia while she scratched its head gently.

"Oh I remember you!" she cooed. The sandworm gave out a low growl that almost resembled a purr, pulling back to lick her face with it's long, _slimy_ tongue. Eventually he couldn't take it any more, the way that this thing just sucked up to her making him want to throw up (And believe him, his stomach is _not_ weak).

"What is _going on here_?"

Lydia's eyes immediately snapped up to look at him, those large brown orbs clouded with confusion.

"Don't you remember the time that we had to save that baby sandworm? He's also the one that ate you at… our wedding…" Lydia's eyes went down to her hand, eyeing the long forgotten engagement ring.

Beetlejuice didn't pick up the torn look on the girl's face. Instead, he felt even angrier than he had before. First off, why had she gone down here, and second, how can she remember _that_?

"You remember that guy, but you don't even remember me?"

"Beej, I…"

"What excuse could you come up with this time? Huh?"

"Just let me explain, I-"

"On second thought, I don't want to hear it."

He was pissed to say the least. It just wasn't fair that she was going to pretend to not remember anything. And then all of a sudden, this sandworm shows up, and she remembers _that_?

The sandworm at her side began to snarl at him as soon as he had snapped. Lydia's hand tried to reach the top of its head, but her hand had gone as far to the center of its head as it could (though she wasn't near the center at all). The movement kept the sandworm from doing anything else. Beetlejuice suddenly had a new flash of rage, no longer even afraid of it. This thing had eaten him before, no doubt would he be able to get out again.

Lydia gave him a look that was probably ten times harsher than any glare the girl had ever given him. The sandworm at her side turned to growl at him again but with a strict flick to the side of it's face had it obediently quiet once more. Beetlejuice was just about to say fuck it and juice them all back into her room. Lydia seemed lost for words and he just didn't want to deal with it. When she did finally open her mouth to say something, the ground began to shake.

If he couldn't float, Beetlejuice was pretty sure his feet would have slipped from right under him. Lyds didn't share that talent with him, however, and immediately lost her balance. The sandworm's tail caught her in her fall and wrapped around her waist to steady her.

Evangeline, the long forgotten vampire, ran screaming from one of the nests. The poor girl couldn't run nearly as fast as she had before when running from Benny, but how hard her probably worn out body forced her to move meant that it couldn't be good. She made it halfway across the distance between herself and Lydia when she stopped dead before the roaring sandworm.

Beetlejuice floated closer to the three, much to the annoyance of the large creature keeping the mortal girl in its possession. He was far too curious and on edge about what was coming up and even though the idea of just leaving was appealing, he couldn't very well leave Lydia here. Evangeline's screaming started up once again before Lydia could pull the sandworm's head away from her, trying to calm it down. Her attempts failed, the creature being too on edge to calm itself but it did back off and shift its head left and right.

"Will ya _stop screamin'_?" Beetlejuice finally yelled, even though Evangeline's screams had died off into whimpers. She took no notice and looked over her shoulder, her whimpers growing louder but by this point she was too frozen with fear to make a break for it.

Five sandworms, one by one, rose from under the sand the same way the first one had. Beetlejuice would have had a heart attack if he were still alive. Very slowly, each one rose form the ground, their faces fixed on the three meals sitting in front of them. The third one to rise up lowered its head to take a better look at the delicious looking figures. Almost instantly the one cradling Lydia got in its face with a growl, snarling at it enough to make it back up immediately.

The two sandworms went back and forth after that. It looked as if they were arguing, roaring back and forth and even snapping at each other every now and then. Lydia gasped out loud and Beetlejuice looked back at her, having been too awestruck at the situation at hand, to notice that the sandworm's grip on her had tightened. A louder roar had him looking back up though to see that three more were picking on the one defensive sandworm. Just when one thought it could get a bite in it would strike only to be sadly mistaken, as the sandworm would nick them in the back of the head. Over and over again, the one holding Lydia would rear his head back and snap mercilessly at either one that had gotten too close.

Beetlejuice was never one to watch a sandworm with remote interest, but at this point he was hooked. It was like watching an action movie, with the idea of an epic fight about to break out. His thoughts immediately halted, realizing that if they did begin to fight, Lydia would be in the middle of it. For the second time in a row, his thoughts stopped dead in his tracks. Why on earth did he still care about her to the point where he needed to take care of her? Lydia _lied_ to him, and he had just snapped on her for having enough of it. He was Beetlejuice! He didn't have enough of anything, not even crap from other people!

He had completely forgotten that there was a fifth sandworm present until Evangeline made a break for it to the manhole. Immediately it was blocking the entrance, its head sticking out from under the weight of its body as it snapped at her, backing her up into the center once again. At this point they were trapped, stuck between five sandworms, with only one at the side. Given that their old acquaintance has severely outgrown his friends at this point, he was still outnumbered.

It was as if they had been waiting for their only way out to be blocked. As soon as Evangeline had been backed up into the center, one of the sandworms rammed its head into the midsection of their ally, sending it sprawling back across the sand. One would think that on impact, the sandworm would have loosened its grip on Lydia and let go, but it didn't. Its grip actually tightened further, wrapping her into protective coils as it regained its balance and towered back up to the other's height.

Beetlejuice had juiced himself next to Lydia immediately, the only thing separating them being the sandworm's coils. Lydia couldn't tug herself free, and the sandworm was a little too busy to be reminded she was there and let her go. As soon as he regained his height, he snapped at the sandworm that had attacked him, successfully wrapping his jaws around the other's neck area. Lydia reached forward just before she was tugged in another direction and grabbed Beetlejuice's sleeve, effectively pulling him with her.

Just as their sandworm had attached himself to the other, another one had done the same to him. The sandworm that had attacked first pulled one way, trying to free himself from the other's grasp while its ally tugged in the opposite direction, effectively pulling him off of his enemy. There was a loud rip when the teeth that had caught into the skin was pulled free, and taking a large amount of flesh with it.

Lydia gasped in horror when she watched this. She even cried out when her sandworm had been attacked in the same fashion and hoped that he didn't get a similar wound. The larger of the two, who was struggling to free himself, flailed his body and immediately dropped the girl, who was caught by the poltergeist at her side.

Beetlejuice held Lydia close to him and began to move away from the struggling sandworms. Much to his surprise, the girl began to protest.

"No! Go back, Beej!" she yelled, attempting to pull herself away from him, "We can't leave Wormy back there! Turn. Back!"

_Wormy_? She _named_ it? Beetlejuice growled, not at the fact that she was pulling away from him after he had gotten so close to her, and that she was hitting him, but because she named a _sandworm_. Beetlejuice looked down to realize that they weren't far off the ground, so instead of stopping, he simply dropped the mortal.

Lydia landed on her rump in soft sand and cursed out loud on impact. No doubt she probably had sand in her underwear at this point, either. Beetlejuice banked left and eventually floated right in front of her, arms crossed and giving her the best pissed off look he could give. Lydia's distressed look she gave back to him told him that she had more to say than 'we have to help _Wormy_.'

"I know you don't want to hear it, Beej, but you're going to. I am sorry. I am so, utterly, terribly sorry."

Beetlejuice sighed and rubbed his temples, "Lyds, no. You can't apologize for what you did. You can't just pretend that I dropped off the face of the planet, and think that I'll put up with your shit just because you apologize."

"But I really did forget, Beej!"

"Save it fo-"

"I was in a _car wreck_!"

For a breathtaking moment the only sound was that of the screeching sandworms behind them, and occasionally a loud whimper from Evangeline who had been trying to stay away from them. Beetlejuice blinked, not believing what he saw as tears began to gather in her eyes. Her shoulders were shaking while she fought the urge to break out into tears. The poltergeist immediately felt awful, though what for he couldn't fathom. He believed that she had been in a car wreck. She couldn't have been in the hospital for no reason. That doesn't necessarily explain much to him, though. In fact he was kind of confused at first as to why she'd even bring that up. Feeling the immediate need to comfort her, Beetlejuice reached out to her.

And then a sandworm was suddenly between them.

Sand sprayed up from the ground, startling him for a moment and also temporarily blinding him. When he could finally see again he noticed that the sandworm between them had been slammed to the ground, his opponent's tail wrapped tightly around where his neck would be.

The creature being pinned was almost unrecognizable under the amount of blood and sand that covered the length of its body, but Lydia's scream only confirmed his worse fears. The worm protecting them was definitely losing. Wormy gave Lydia a sideways glance that seemed almost expressionless. At hearing her cry out on his behalf, the sandworm had found new strength.

Wormy's midsection flailed as his tail whipped up and latched onto the other's body, using from the tip of his tail to about his midsection to constrict the area just below the other sandworm's head. Beetlejuice and Lydia both watched in stunned silence for a moment while the two wrestled, the intense look on Wormy's face saying that he was using all the strength he had to get a tight grip on the other. At the same time, however, he was losing strength. The other sandworm had a good grip on him as well and as Wormy lost more air he found it difficult to try to outmatch the other. In a fit of desperation, he wrapped the rest of what he could around the other before squeezing as hard as he could, and then jerking part of his body in a different direction.

The sudden movement was quick and so fast that Beetlejuice swore he saw Lydia flinch. A loud '_crack_' was heard as Wormy's body twitched, the sound loud enough to have an echoing effect like thunder. The sandworm that had been holding him down gave a final twitch before falling back, and all the strength that kept their sandworm down was suddenly lifted.

Beetlejuice looked over to notice that the four remaining sandworms were busy trying to catch Evangeline. While one still sat before the only exit for miles, the other three snapped at the fleeing vampire, trying to corner her between the three of them. Wormy regained his balance again and raised his head up enough to seem tall but not quite as high as before, and let out a roar that challenged the other three. The fourth didn't seem to notice, staying in its position while eyeing the vampire who dove into the vacant nest she was in before.

The three sandworms that did react charged at them. In one sweeping motion, Wormy's tail was instantly wrapped around both Beetlejuice and Lydia, cradling them both the same way he had before when he was only carrying the breather. Beetlejuice squirmed in his spot as well as Lydia and considered juicing himself out before realizing that doing so would leave enough room for Lydia to slip out, and she didn't look willing to leave her friend's side at the moment either.

One sandworm was brave enough to strike past Wormy and try to get to his tail, while another had tried to distract him. In the midst of the struggling, Lydia chose that moment to continue their conversation.

"I've had amnesia, Beej. I couldn't remember who I was at all."

Beetlejuice had to admit that his response wasn't necessarily appropriate. In fact, it would have been much better if he stared at her in awed silence and realized that she was telling the truth. However, all he could think to say was, "Lyds, you are insane. Obviously right now is not the time to be talking about this."

As he said this, he wrapped his arm around Lydia's shoulders and forced her down while ducking too, just as another sandworm's tail whipped over their heads in an attempt to swipe at them. Lydia ground her teeth together, both in anger and in an attempt to hold on tight and not get jostled around.

"This is the perfect opportunity! If you haven't noticed, this may be the last chance that I get to tell you this. Not to mention that you don't sound very surprised at all to find that I was in an accident and lost my memories!"

"There are six sandworms fighting over us like homeless people over a cheese burger! I believe that you lost your memories but if you haven't noticed, my greatest fear times a million is happening, and it's not a dream!"

"Then why haven't you juiced us out of here yet?" Lydia inquired, not screaming when a sandworm's teeth came a little too close. After Beetlejuice had not responded after a few moments the Goth girl looked over at him with a look of extreme bewilderment. When her look of realization flickered across her face, Beetlejuice fought the embarrassed flush that almost spread across his face.

"You're the ghost with the most, and yet a couple of sandworms are going to scare the juice out of you."

"Tell me you're not scared right now!" Beetlejuice challenged, his voice faltering for a moment while they were pulled in a completely different direction.

Lydia had a retort ready and was about to launch it at him when one of the sandworms bit onto Wormy's tail, dangerously close to where the two resided. Instantly the two were not only dropped, but also thrown into the sand. The mortal stood up coughing and dusted herself off while Beetlejuice still lay there, coughing and sputtering out the sand that had gotten in his mouth.

"I don't think being terrified is particularly helpful at the moment," Lydia finally said, albeit between breaths while she fought to catch hers.

"Yeah and at this point it's kind of not avoidable," Beetlejuice grumbled, sitting up. Just before he could get to his feet, he noticed one of the sandworm's preparing to strike in Lydia's direction.

Fortunately, Lydia noticed too and was all too ready to dive out of the way when it did, rolling to her feet and suddenly out of ideas on what to do next. Wormy was busy with his tail wrapped around one worm and his teeth on the other. There was no way he'd be available to help them now.

The worm that had attacked reared back quickly and made a move to strike again.

* * *

It was very hard to focus on one thing at a time right now. Not only was she practically playing a deadly game of tag with sandworms; Lydia was also fighting an inner battle of her own.

However mad and offended she pretended to be on the outside, Lydia was doing everything in her power not to jump into his arms and kiss him right now. It drove her crazy because she couldn't figure out for the life of her _why_. Beetlejuice was her childhood best friend, but that just seemed so cliché it made her sick. That couldn't be why, could it? Another part of her argued against the possibility, flat out denying that Lydia could fall in love with him at all. It was then she discovered that both her old 14-year-old personality had been clashing with her recent, suicidal one. Both personalities trying to fit into one was affecting her decision making greatly. Lydia was more concerned that all of these confusing thoughts clashing together revolved around Beetlejuice.

However now, her thoughts weren't on him so much as they were on her life. Dodging the first strike on her part was just pure luck. Lydia wasn't a very athletic person and didn't have a lot of stamina to spare, but she wasn't totally lazy either. The Goth teenager was now at a loss because at this point she was sure the sandworm wouldn't miss this time.

The creature before her had rose up to a height that brought just enough muscle power up behind his head to strike again, this time with much more precision and accuracy than the last.

Everything seemed to slow down when it finally decided to strike. Lydia's leg muscles bunched up, ready to move out of the way as she had last time. She was completely ready to jump out of the way and yet she didn't. Part of her felt cemented to the spot as she finally began to feel the fear that she had been missing. Sending a sideways glance in the direction where the ghost with the most had once stood, part of her was not surprised to find that he was no longer there.

She looked back at the sandworm that was now just a few feet from her person. Her body felt completely numb and for a moment even accepted her death. It's what she had been wanting anyways, right? She probably even deserved it in some cases.

A last, a small bit of her still believed she wasn't going to die, though; at least not today.

Before the sandworm could get any closer, a black and white blur had intercepted, landing on the creatures head from an angle that sent it face first into the sand and skidding away from Lydia, avoiding her altogether. The rest of its body hit the ground and it made no move to get up, the impact knocking it out cold. Lydia stared at the one who had just saved her life, the hint of a smile on her lips.

Beetlejuice stood up, panting, looking back at her like he'd just done something that both horrified and excited him.

"Don't go gettin' in front of any more sandworms because I'm _not_ doing that again."

That made her laugh.

Beetlejuice looked at her dumbfounded, probably wondering why she'd be laughing at a time like this when she'd been so close to death. After a moment he started to crack a smile himself, which made her smile grow all the more. What was _wrong_ with her?

Their moment didn't last very long. A loud screech brought their attention back to the sandworms still wrestling a distance away from them. Wormy had finally over powered the one he was holding with his tail, using the weight of his body to keep that one pinned. The one that he had bitten earlier was still erect, though Wormy once again had his teeth dug into the open wound he had caused for the sandworm when the fight had started.

With one jerk of his head, and a tightening of his jaw, Wormy had successfully sunk his teeth into both the worm's trachea, and its jugular artery. The sandworm let out a strangled cry before falling back limply to the ground to writhe around, and eventually become very still. The two sandworms left, not counting the one who still stubbornly guarded the exit, now faced each other. The one under Wormy's weight had whipped his body up and used its tail to hit its opponent in the head, knocking the larger of the two off. Wormy shook his head and roared.

The sandworm launched at him, letting out a furious growl as it did so. Wormy did the same, charging at the other in the same fashion. The two sandworms met butting heads, both trying to overpower the other and push it back. After a moment, Wormy's opponent lowered its head and bit into the sandworm's midsection. Wormy did the same while he still could and within moments the two became a large tangled mess of constricting and biting.

Lydia could no longer distinguish which one was which and watched with anticipation, chewing on her lower lip. Wormy let go and made an attempt to bite at the other worm's face. The sandworm reared back and made the same attempt, both looking as if they were about to bash heads again. In a slight instant, Wormy changed directions and aimed lower, catching the other sandworm by his lower jaw. The two struggled while the other sandworm bit down onto Wormy's face but it looked as if the sandworm knew what it was doing. With a quick flick of his head in a different direction, Wormy had ripped off the other worm's lower jaw.

"Ew," Lydia muttered, forcing herself to look away. She heard Beetlejuice grunt in agreement, both now looking at the only sandworm left, still toying with Evangeline like a child playing with their food. When noticing it was the only one left, the sandworm that had been holding Evangeline by her ankles had dropped her, sliding from it's spot in the entrance. Though part of it still covered the manhole, the sandworm came out from it's spot just enough to challenge Wormy. He gladly bit down on the area just behind its head and dragged it the rest of the way from the entrance.

Immediately Evangeline took the opportunity to run out of the dunes, moving so fast the vampire had seemingly disappeared altogether. Lydia and Beetlejuice shared a look before making the same attempt, running towards the manhole with the same amount of desperation.

They only made it about halfway.

Lydia had been pumping her legs as fast as they could carry her, barely being fast enough to keep up with Beetlejuice. He wasn't far ahead of her at all but far just enough to come back for her if need be, and the thought of it again made her heart panic more about him than the fact that they were in danger. The Goth girl gave one last sideways glance to the sandworms to make sure that the one she favored was okay in the fight, and noticed that while it held down the other sandworm by the spot it had bitten into in the first place, the other sandworms' tail was still free. In an act of desperation and anger at the two getting away, the sandworm shot it's tail out to grab at one of them.

"Beej!" Lydia screamed as soon as the tail had landed on the poltergeist, rolling him up in a tight grip and pulling him back towards the battle. Beetlejuice was so frozen with fear she didn't even hear him scream. He stared wide-eyed at the sandworm that had him in its grasp. Lydia screamed for him again but it didn't look like he was hearing her at all.

She started running in his direction, not like she could do much to save him at this point but she'll be damned if she didn't try. A wave of adrenaline hit her and she found herself running faster now than she had before. Just a distance in front of her, Wormy struggled to gain control of the situation and let go of his place on the sandworm to bit down on its tail. The other sandworm had countered in pushing up with its head, hitting Wormy's jaw line and knocking its hold off of its tail. And all within two seconds the sandworm had launched at its tail where Beetlejuice was with every intention on eating the poltergeist.

And he just sat there frozen in fear, still.

With tears beginning to gather in her eyes, Lydia let out a scream of fury. Why wasn't he doing anything? Why was he so terrified? Not wanting to realize that she wouldn't make it there in time, Lydia began yelling at him some more as she ran.

"Beetlejuice wake… up! Don't just sit there, do something! Please, Beej, I'm sorry, just… juice yourself out of it!"

Nothing was working.

"You can't do this to me, Beej. You can't die, don't leave me here, just snap out of it!"

Lydia realized that she was beginning to slow down. Her legs and lungs felt like they were on fire and the more she hiccupped to keep herself from sobbing the worse her torso felt. Before she could even control herself she yelled one last thing

"I love you!"

* * *

_I love you!_

Just after he heard that, everything went dark.

Beetlejuice felt entirely numb as he moved down the digestive tract of a sandworm, a situation that was all too familiar to him. Those three words echoed around in his head as he went, still frozen with fear and now confusion. Lydia had said those things… to him. The one person that had ever mattered so much to him said those three words that he had never wanted to hear or say.

Lydia… loved him?

No, she didn't mean it. She couldn't have meant it. Whatever she did mean, it bothered Beetlejuice more that he was happy she had said it rather than her saying it at all. It's like he'd wanted to hear that from her, but _why_?

Out of all the things she had screamed at him before the other sandworm had thrown him into his mouth and swallowed, that was what stood out the most. Worst of all, he'd let her say all those things to him without reacting once, and then left her all alone out there with two sandworms fighting over her.

When he had kicked the other one out of the way that had almost gotten her, he couldn't tell anyone what he was thinking in that moment. However mad at her he had been and probably will be, Beetlejuice just couldn't let anything bad happen to her. It's funny how he had just contradicted himself when all he had to do was suck in his fear like he had before, and juice themselves out of this situation. It was actually very confusing to him that he couldn't find the strength to use his powers unless Lydia was in mortal danger like that, but at this point where he'd left her she practically was.

All this thinking was getting to his head!

If anyone asked him in the future how he had managed to do what he did in the next few minutes, he'd tell him or her he still didn't know. Beetlejuice clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists, that feeling in the pit of his stomach he'd been getting when he thought about Lydia getting even worse by the second. Then he did something he thought he'd never in his life do.

He slashed the sandworm in half from the inside out.

Part of him knew that it was possible for him to do such a feat, but Beetlejuice just couldn't believe that he had done it. A moment later he was standing and looking around him in plain awe to see that pieces of the sandworm were still falling. Apparently it had been a little more than just slash at the flesh until he was free. It looked as if he had made the damn thing explode. Beetlejuice looked up to see a smiling Wormy hovering above him; the sandworm's breathing was a little bit faster than normal while it still struggled to recover from the fight.

A shout of joy in the direction in front of him had Beetlejuice looking right at Lydia, who was again running at him once more. Beetlejuice had thought she was farther away when he had disappeared, and was surprised to find that as soon as he noticed her Lydia was jumping into his arms. She was hugging him so tight that Beetlejuice was sure if he could still breathe, he'd suffocate. Immediately his thoughts reverted back to what she had said before he was eaten, making his smile falter and a disturbed look cross his features. Had she really meant what she said?

"Lyds," Beetlejuice said, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to sit squarely in front of him. Lydia still beamed up at him until she noticed the look on his face, her smile slowly fading to a confused grimace. Beetlejuice's eyes lingered on her lips for a moment while this happened before looking back up at her eyes, which were still unreadable to him as they had been before. There was still no doubt that she was confused, that much was for sure.

"What's wrong, Beej?"

Damn it. That look she was giving him was making his train of thought jump tracks. Trying hard to stay focused, that feeling he had inside of him before had returned and for a moment he swore his heart ached. Taking a deep breath he asked, "What was it that you said before I went into the sandworm again?"

He knew what she said, clear as day, but he wanted to hear it again. To know for sure that she had meant it as she screamed it at him, and that it wasn't just some act of desperation to snap him out of it. Several emotions crossed the girl's features before she finally settled on fear, and Beetlejuice realized that it was the fear of rejection that looked right back at him. He wanted to groan and smack himself in the head. This probably looked so bad, like an adult probably about to scold her about a bad word.

First off, he could never reject her. As much as he may have wanted to before, and even if he still wanted to now, Beetlejuice just couldn't do it. Part of him felt the same way about Lydia and the rest just wanted her. Badly. He knew for certain however, that whatever happened after this moment, no matter what, he wasn't letting that girl go.

Lydia bit her lip, probably wondering what a proper response would be. Beetlejuice's eyebrows furrowed at her, waiting patiently until she did something he least expected. Lydia, his best friend since she was twelve, leaned forward and planted her lips on his.

Beetlejuice stiffened for a moment, and didn't melt from his position as she pulled away either. It wasn't a huge or romantic kiss, just a small peck on the lips. It was, however, enough to answer his question and to make the poltergeist feel something he thought he'd never feel again. Lydia's eyes searched his for a reaction that she was looking for, and when Beetlejuice finally warmed up and gave her a small smile back, she seemed somewhat satisfied.

Not entirely sure what to do next, but wanting to feel her soft lips again, Beetlejuice leaned forward to do the same thing she had just done to him.

"Oh my…"

Damn it. He had gotten about half way there until whoever had come down the manhole had spoken, and Beetlejuice looked sharply over at the last person he wanted to interrupt him now.

Prince Vincent stood under the manhole, his comment more directed at the leftover blood bath that sat before him rather than the two standing in the middle of it. To say the least, Vince didn't look all too surprised that something like this had happened but the fact that it did was enough to get to him nonetheless.

"I just came down here to retrieve Benny… who seems to still be missing."

"That guy ate him," Beetlejuice said, a little hostile, while he jerked a thumb at the recovering sandworm. The look he gave Vince was nothing more than a silent message for him to leave, but the Prince shrugged it off and continued. Lydia didn't seem as affected by the interruption, listening to him intently as he spoke.

"Well in that case there's nothing to be done about it now. I just came down here to tell Lydia that she no longer has anything to worry about. All the other vampires have been captured and are going to be in prison for quite some time. More like dungeons really, but still. For a long while, probably until you join us here personally, you won't hear from them."

Lydia's shoulders sagged in a relieved sigh, but then she looked a little concerned, "And what about Evangeline?"

"Evangeline will be given the chance to do as she pleases as far as we are concerned. Because she helped you I'll be going easier on her but if she does break any laws she will be thrown with the rest of her clan."

Lydia nodded, looking back at Beetlejuice who still glared daggers at the prince. She smirked, noticing that his hands on her shoulders had tightened their grip slightly. Vincent took that moment then to drink in what the two were doing, and smiled at the wry look that Lydia had been giving the Ghost With the Most. He probably had more to say after that but when he noticed the situation at hand he lifted his hands, palms out, and excused himself.

"I'll have more to discuss with you two when you decide to come back to the surface but I would make it quick before more of your… ah, friends, show up."

And with that the prince was gone.

Lydia looked at Beetlejuice to see him watching the prince until he was completely out of sight, laughing as soon as he was gone only to the poltergeist's annoyance. What an interesting night this had turned out to be…

* * *

_**A/N:**_How many stories have epic Sandworm fights like that? I'm not sure, really, but still! Anyway, I tried to tie things up here in a nice enough knot, but everything that's left at this point will be what the Epilogue is all about. All the stuff with Adam, Barabara, and her family is the very end in the next chapter. So everything that's not in a nice pretty bow at the end of this chapter will be in one by the middle of the Epilogue in the next, because It'd probably going to be long anyway. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter though! Til' then~


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